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Watching this amazing video of Chang'e 6 taking samples from the Apollo Crater on the far side of the Moon, I was struck by the proximity of the sample channels to the lander. It's understandable since there's a practical limit to the length of a robot arm that can be carried.

Presumably the descent stage rocket exhaust was blowing combustion by-products and unburnt fuel onto the surface as it descended. But doesn't that mean that the regolith samples will have traces of the fuel and exhaust chemicals? I vaguely remember something about the Apollo samples being taken from a distance away from the LM for this reason.

Does Chang'e 6 try to take samples that are not contaminated by the descent engine and if so, how?

I'm not asking about sample-return biological contamination, I think that has been dealt with in other questions here.

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  • $\begingroup$ Chang'e 6 digs below the surface to take samples. I couldn't find a source but I'm sure this mission is to bring back rock core samples at different depth. $\endgroup$
    – user3528438
    Commented Jun 4 at 12:42
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    $\begingroup$ Not that they wouldn't prefer to avoid contamination if possible, but if they did have samples with exhaust they know what those chemicals are and could probably differentiate them from other chemicals in the sample. Interestingly some of the Mars Perseverance rover sample tubes contain just air samples, so that any pollutants caused by outgassing from the vehicle can be accounted for. $\endgroup$
    – Steve Pemberton
    Commented Jun 4 at 13:56
  • $\begingroup$ @user3528438 It takes a few surface samples but also has a drill that can get material from a few centimetres below the surface (there's footage on youtube). I don't know if they are kept separate in when transferred to the return container, it doesn't look like it from the videos. $\endgroup$
    – Dave Gremlin
    Commented Jun 4 at 21:10

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