State media report that the new step of Beijing’s space program will be the landing of a lunar probe on the far side of the moon.
Referring to representatives of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xinhua News Agency reported that the mission will be launched until 2020, and its goal will be to land a probe on the side of the Moon that is invisible from Earth.
The probes had previously removed the reverse side of the moon, but no country has yet tried to land on it.
According to the Xinhua report, the landing goal is to study low-frequency radio waves and geological conditions. The next mission was named “Chang'e 4”, followed by “Chang'e 3”, as a result of which the moonwalker Yuytu was sent to the moon.
This made China the third nation after the United States and the Soviet Union, landed on the only natural satellite of the Earth. Chang'e is the name of the goddess of the Moon in Chinese mythology, and Yuytu is her pet hare.
“If we can place the frequency spectrograph on the back side, we fill the gap,” said Zou Yonglao from the lunar research department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to the Xinhua news agency.
According to the state publication China Daily, China’s plans to disembark on the far side of the moon became known in May without specifying details.
“Most likely we will choose a place, the landing on which will be technically more difficult,” said chief engineer of the lunar research program, We Weyren, told the state television channel CCTV.
Last year, China launched its first drone, successfully returned to Earth.
