The rocket launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is seen in Jiuquan, China (Photo : REUTERS/China Newsphoto)
The Chinese Space Agency has announced another ambitious target, never reached before, nothing less than an attempt the first-ever landing of a lunar probe on the moon's far side.
In an interview broadcast on Wednesday on CCTV, Zou Yongliao from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' moon exploration department told state broadcaster announced that Chang'e 4 mission is planned for sometime before 2020. The mission's objective would be to research the geological conditions on the moon's far side, according to Zou.
The exploration of the moon's dark side aims to gather date necessarily for a future placement of a radio telescope required by astronomers to gain insights of the universe, Zou said. Since it is not possible to reach the moon's far side with radio transmissions from Earth, this would make an excellent location for sensitive instruments, according to The Christian Science Monitor
China has scheduled its next lunar mission for 2017. An unmanned spaceship will attempt to land on the moon before returning to Earth with samples. This venture would make China the third country after Russia and the United States to land a spacecraft on the moon and the first to attempt that on the moon's far side, according to BBC News.
China's lunar exploration program took the name Chang'e after a mythical goddess. The program has already landed in 2013 a craft on the moon with a rover onboard, as well as pair of orbiting lunar probes.
According to reports, it is possible that China will also send a crewed mission to the moon in the near future.
The first Chinese astronaut was sent into space in the year 2003. China's space program has already gained significant expertise in space exploration with a series of methodically timed steps, including the launching of a space station.
