China seems to be planning to send a spacecraft to the far side of the Moon this month. The Chang'e-4 spacecraft is slated for a December 8 take off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. The spacecraft will be carrying a lander and a rover, that is said to touch down the surface on the lunar surface. No spacecraft has ever touched down on the surface of the moon's far side.

The lander and rover will be exploring and study the crater-marker far side of the Moon. The mission also includes the first radio astronomy experiments, reported Scientific American.

Chang'e-4 is the China National Space Administration's (CNSA) new move to fulfill its lunar aspirations. Back in 2013, the Chang'e-3 landed on the surface, which was followed by the announcement of a moon base.

If the new Chang'e-4 rover manages to successfully land on the surface, it will map the area around its landing site. The rover will measure the subsurface layer leveraging its ground-penetrating radar.

The CNSA hasn't revealed the landing site of the rover, though Zongcheng Ling, a planetary scientist at Shandong University, told Scientific American that the rover is most likely to land in Von Kármán, a 115-wide crater.

The Chang'e-4 is also assigned to prepare for future crewed missions and the CNAS's desired moon base. The rover will also study the growth of certain seeds sprout in a controlled on the moon's low-gravity surface.

"When we take the step towards long-term human habitation on the Moon or Mars, we will need greenhouse facilities to support us, and will need to live in something like a biosphere," Anna-Lisa Paul, a horticultural scientist at the University of Florida, told Scientific American.

Besides, the CNAS is also planning to launch the Chang'e-5 next year. The rover will be sent to collect and bring back the samples to Earth. </s> China has become the first nation to ever land on the far side of the Moon, touching down overnight in a historic landing that demonstrates its rapidly growing spaceflight capabilities.

Their Chang’e 4 lander touched down near a region called the South Pole-Aitken Basin at about 2.26am UTC today, January 3. China’s state-run news networks, including China Global Television Network (CGTN), posted the news on Twitter after a lack of information in the run-up to the landing.

“China's Chang'e-4 probe lands successfully on far side of the moon,” the CGTN wrote on Twitter, “marking the first ever soft-landing in this uncharted area.”

Chang’e 4 is the second lander and rover China has sent to the Moon, after the twin Chang’e 3 mission in 2013. That mission landed on the Moon’s near-side, however, which has been explored before by the US and the Soviet Union. Chang’e 4 instead attempted something never done before.

The mission consists of a stationary lander weighing about 1,200 kilograms (2,600 pounds), and a rover weighing about 140 kilograms (310 pounds). It’s understood that the rover will make its way onto the surface later today, travelling down a ramp from the lander, although that has yet to be confirmed.

As the Moon is tidally locked to Earth, one side of it always points towards our planet, and the other – the far side – always points away. Although spacecraft have orbited the Moon and imaged the far side, no one has landed there due in part to the technological challenges.

In order to communicate with its lander on the far side, China launched a relay satellite called Queqiao in May 2018 into a gravitationally stable location 65,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) beyond the Moon. Here, this satellite is both in sight of the lander and Earth, so all communications can be passed through it.

The landing itself was largely autonomous, however, with the lander touching down in a region known as the Von Kármán Crater. This is located within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which at 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) across is the largest impact crater on the Moon.

It’s hoped that this region could contain some fascinating details about the Moon’s history. Some of the Moon’s mantle is believed to have been pulled up to the surface in this location, which Chang’e 4 will be able to study.

The mission also has three cameras, which will be used to return stunning images to Earth, and a ground-penetrating radar, which will be able to peer 100 meters (330 feet) below the surface. There are also two European experiments on board to study incoming particles on the Moon.

The Moon takes 28 days to rotate, giving most regions 14 days of sunlight and 14 days of night. Chang’e 4 has landed as close to the start of day at its location as possible, which began on December 30. This will give its solar panels ample sunlight, before freezing temperatures accompany lunar night in mid-January.

All eyes will now be on how much this mission can achieve. The rover on the Chang’e 3 mission failed to last the lunar night, but its lander – called Yutu – is still operational today. Whatever Chang’e 4 achieves from now on will be a bonus, on top of what has already been a historic landing in the history of spaceflight. </s> China plans to launch a spacecraft to the far side of the moon this month. The Chang’e-4 spacecraft is scheduled to take off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan on December 8 carrying a lander and rover, which will touch down on the lunar surface. No spacecraft has ever touched down on the surface of the moon’s far side.

The mission is to explore and study the crater-marked far side of the moon, conducting the first radio astronomy experiments from that region, reports Scientific American.

Chang’e-4 is the China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) latest move in its lunar aspirations. In 2013, Chang’e-3 performed a “soft” landing on the surface. In the years that followed, CNAS announced its plan to build a moon base, launching a satellite to relay communications from the lander on the lunar surface to Earth, circumventing the moon’s mass.

If the touchdown is successful for the Chang’e-4 rover, it will be tasked with mapping the area around its landing site. Equipped with a ground-penetrating radar, the rover will measure the subsurface layers. A near and infrared spectrometer will allow it to measure the mineral makeup of the lunar soil. These measurements may help geologists better understand the geological dynamics of the moon’s evolution.

The CNSA has not made Chang’e-4’s landing site public, though Zongcheng Ling, a planetary scientist at Shandong University and member of the mission team, told Scientific American that the most probable location is Von Kármán, a more than 115-mile wide crater.

Part of Chang’e-4 mission is in preparation for future crewed missions and the CNAS’s desired moon base. Among its experiments will be one to study whether certain seeds sprout and photosynthesize in a controlled environment on the moon’s low-gravity surface.

“When we take the step towards long-term human habitation on the Moon or Mars, we will need greenhouse facilities to support us, and will need to live in something like a biosphere,” Anna-Lisa Paul, a horticultural scientist at the University of Florida, told Scientific American.

This specific experiment will aim to verify studies conducted no the International Space Station, which determined that potato and thale-cress grow normally in controlled low-gravity environments but not in environments with gravity as low as the moon’s.

The CNAS has another mission, Chang’e-5, slated to launch in 2019. Chang’e-5’s mission will be to bring back samples collected by the rover. </s> Humans have landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon for the first time in history.

China's Chang'e 4 spacecraft achieved the milestone on Jan. 3, with the country's space agency landing its lunar probe in Von Kármán crater on the moon's mysterious far side. Official word was provided at 8 p.m. PT by Chinese State Media service CCTV.

Launched on Dec. 7, the Chang'e 4 craft contains both a lunar lander and a six-wheeled rover. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Dec. 12 before preparations for landing nudged the spacecraft into an elliptical lunar orbit, getting as close as 15 kilometres (around 9 miles) to the surface.

Unlike NASA's history-making mission to Mars in November and the agency's flyby of the mysterious Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 on New Year's Day, China's landmark landing wasn't televised. Social media accounts on Chinese giant Weibo reported that the lunar probe touched down at around 6:26 p.m. PT but confirmation of the reports was hard to come by. After tweets by Chinese State-owned media outlets China Daily and China Global Television Network made their way online, the Twittersphere was abuzz... but the tweets were quickly deleted.

According to Andrew Jones, a journalist reporting on the Chinese space program, Chang'e 4's descent required "laser ranging and optical cameras for navigation, velocity and coarse hazard avoidance." Practically, this meant Chang'e 4 was on its own as it descended to the surface with its important scientific payload, on a side of the moon marked by rugged terrain.

NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon almost 50 years ago, but navigating to the far side poses a unique communications challenge. Sometimes known as the "dark side" of the moon, even though it does receive sunlight, the far side never faces the Earth because of tidal locking. That means budding human (or robot) explorers have to find a way to establish and maintain radio contact.

To communicate with the Chang'e 4 mission on the moon's surface, the Chinese space agency launched the Queqiao relay satellite into a halo orbit over the dark side of the moon in May. The satellite overcomes the communications challenge, allowing the lander and rover to phone home, via relay, and send scientific data back.

Both the rover and the lander are equipped with a suite of instruments that will allow the Chinese space agency to study the geology of Von Kármán crater, including three cameras. The ancient crater, part of the 13 kilometre deep South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin, is believed to hold material kicked up from deep within the lunar soil due to an impact early on in the Moon's life, providing new insights on what makes up its interior. The lander also carries seeds and silkworm eggs within a sealed container and will examine whether the two lifeforms can thrive on the moon.

Other instruments, developed by Swedish and German engineers, will allow the lunar robots to better study solar wind, charged particles that burst forth from the sun's atmosphere. Payloads were also provided by partners in the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

The last lander on the moon was Chang'e 4's predecessor, Chang'e 3, which soft-landed in a crater known as the Mare Imbrium in December 2013. In January 2014, the rover underwent a mechanical control abnormality and ceased to transmit data in March 2015. However, the lander remains on the near side of the moon.

The moon really is the place to be in 2019, with various international space agencies ready to explore Earth's only natural satellite. Chang'e 4's mission is slated to last a year, but a subsequent lunar exploration mission -- Chang'e 5 -- is scheduled to launch toward the end of the year. If successful, it would be the first mission to the moon to return samples since Luna 24 in 1976.

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Taking It to Extremes: Mix insane situations -- erupting volcanoes, nuclear meltdowns, 30-foot waves -- with everyday tech. Here's what happens. </s> China’s space programme scored a major victory on Thursday morning when the Chang’e 4 lunar spacecraft landed on the dark side of the moon, territory that has never before been explored.

The probe completed the world’s first ever soft-landing on the uncharted far side at 10.26am Hong Kong time, and almost immediately transmitted a “close range” image of the mysterious land back to Earth.

The photograph showed Chang’e was sitting in a relatively flat area with a small crater just metres away. The mountain range of the Von Karman crater could be seen in the distance.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said the mission had “lifted the mysterious veil” from the far side of the moon, which is permanently blocked from view from Earth, and “opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration”.

“China is making a tremendous effort to become a space power. This mission will be a landmark event in this endeavour,” Wu Weiren, chief scientist of the Chang’e 4 programme, said in an interview with state broadcaster China Central Television.

“It is a perfect display of human intelligence,” said Jia Yang, the probe’s deputy chief designer from the China Academy of Space Technology was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

China’s Chang’e 4 lunar probe sends first photo of far side of the moon after historic soft landing

But making a soft and successful landing is just the start. The next stage of the mission, according to the CNSA, is for Chang’e 4 to release a rover to explore the surrounding area, fire up ground penetration radar to map the moon’s inner structures, analyse soil and rock samples for minerals and chemicals with potential economic values, and activate a radio telescope to search for possible signals from distant universes.

The probes also carried a canister filled with air, soil, water, bacterium, silkworm eggs, the seeds of a small flowering plant and a potato. Scientists hope that the small eco-system will spring to life and produce the first blossoming flowers on the moon in about three months’ time.

Dr Chen Hongqiao, a researcher at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in the south China city of Guangzhou, said the landing could intensify the space race between China and the United States.

“Today the fight [between China and the US] is on trade. Tomorrow it can be on the moon,” he said.

The US government recently announced an ambitious plan to colonise the moon with a permanent outpost. The first stage of such a programme would involve Nasa building a space station, known as a lunar orbital platform, within the moon’s orbit, which would serve as a gateway to future settlements.

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Dr Zhu Jin, the director of Beijing Planetarium, said the new race between China and the US to the moon would be “very different” from the previous one between the US and the former Soviet Union during the cold war.

“The previous one was largely driven by politics,” Zhu said. “This race will be mainly driven by a genuine interest in the moon itself and potential business opportunities.”

The former Soviet Union launched the world’s first lunar satellite in 1959, while the US achieved six manned landings. Of the 265 spacecraft sent towards the moon by all nations, only one US probe made it to the far side, but it crashed.

Plainly aware of the risks involved in the Chang’e 4 mission, China decided not to broadcast it live so as to reduce the pressure on the scientists and engineers involved, according to a researcher with knowledge of the matter.

China can be proud as Chang’e 4 lands on far side of the moon



During its landing, the 4 tonne Chang’e 4 lunar craft fired its reverse thrusters about 10:15am to reduce speed and made a steep descent towards one of the most deadly landing zones in the solar system, the CNSA said.

Unlike the relatively flat, smooth near side of the moon that faces the Earth, more than 90 per cent of the surface of the far side is rugged, featuring mountains twice the height of Everest.

Communication is also a challenge. Radio waves from Earth cannot reach the far side back of the moon, so Change 4’s link to the flight control centre in Beijing is dependent entirely on a small, distant relaying satellite called Queqiao.

During its descent, Chang’e 4 had to aim its antenna constantly at Queqiao to avoid losing contact. About 100 metres (330 feet) above the lunar surface, the spacecraft hovered automatically and scanned the area below with a high definition camera for unexpected rocks and slopes.

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Chang’e 4 was launched atop a Long March 3B carrier rocket on December 8 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China’s Sichuan province. It entered lunar orbit four days later.

The Von Karman crater, about twice the size of Los Angeles, is named after Theodore von Karman, lead scientist of the early US space programme. Karmon is also the mentor of Hsue-Shen Tsien, the founding father of China’s space programme, so the landing site had significant meaning, state media said.

China was not without help on the Chang’e 4 mission. Scientists from The Netherlands contributed to the construction of a low frequency signal detector, while experts from Germany helped build the device to measure radioactivity on the lunar surface. Sweden provided the atomic detector and Saudi Arabia contributed a camera.

China also has plans to launch a returnable spacecraft – Chang’e 5 – by 2020, which will include a lunar lander and a rover that could return to Earth after collecting samples and performing lunar surveys. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Far side of Moon captured by Chinese spacecraft

China says it has successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, the first ever such attempt and landing.

At 10:26 Beijing time (02:26 GMT), the un-crewed Chang'e-4 probe touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, state media said.

It is carrying instruments to analyse the unexplored region's geology, as well to conduct biological experiments.

The landing is being seen as a major milestone in space exploration.

There have been numerous missions to the Moon in recent years, but the vast majority have been to orbit, fly by or impact. The last crewed landing was Apollo 17 in 1972.

Why China has its eye on the stars

Image copyright EPA/CNSA Image caption All pictures and data have to be bounced off a separate satellite

The Chang'e-4 probe has already sent back its first pictures from the surface, which were shared by state media.

With no direct communication link possible, all pictures and data have to be bounced off a separate satellite before being relayed to Earth.

Why is this Moon landing so significant?

Previous Moon missions have landed on the Earth-facing side, but this is the first time any craft has landed successfully on the unexplored and rugged far side.

Some spacecraft have crashed into the far side, either after system failures, or after they had completed their mission.

Ye Quanzhi, an astronomer at Caltech, told the BBC this was the first time China had "attempted something that other space powers have not attempted before".

Image copyright EPA/CNSA Image caption The far side is not visible from the Earth due to "tidal locking"

The Chang'e-4 was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China on 7 December; it arrived in lunar orbit on 12 December.

It was then directed to lower itself toward the Moon, being careful to identify and avoid obstacles, Chinese state media say.

The Chang'e-4 probe is aiming to explore a place called the Von Kármán crater, located within the much larger South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin - thought to have been formed by a giant impact early in the Moon's history.

"This huge structure is over 2,500km (1,550 miles) in diameter and 13km deep, one of the largest impact craters in the Solar System and the largest, deepest and oldest basin on the Moon," Andrew Coates, professor of physics at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey, told the BBC.

The event responsible for carving out the SPA basin is thought to have been so powerful, it punched through the Moon's crust and down into the zone called the mantle. Researchers will want to train the instruments on any mantle rocks exposed by the calamity.

The science team also hopes to study parts of the sheet of melted rock that would have filled the newly formed South Pole-Aitken Basin, allowing them to identify variations in its composition.

A third objective is to study the far-side regolith, the broken up rocks and dust that make up the surface, which will help us understand the formation of the Moon.

What else might we learn from this mission?

Chang'e-4's static lander is carrying two cameras; a German-built radiation experiment called LND; and a spectrometer that will perform low-frequency radio astronomy observations.

Scientists believe the far side could be an excellent place to perform radio astronomy, because it is shielded from the radio noise of Earth. The spectrometer work will aim to test this idea.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A mock-up of the Chang'e-4 lander and rover, on display in Dongguan, China

The lander also carried a container with six live species from Earth - cotton, rapeseed, potato, fruit fly, yeast and arabidopsis (a flowering plant) - to try to form a mini biosphere.

The arabidopsis plant may produce the first flower on the Moon, Chinese state media say.

Other equipment/experiments include:

A panoramic camera

A radar to probe beneath the lunar surface

An imaging spectrometer to identify minerals

An experiment to examine the interaction of the solar wind (a stream of energised particles from the Sun) with the lunar surface

The mission is part of a larger Chinese programme of lunar exploration. The first and second Chang'e missions were designed to gather data from orbit, while the third and fourth were built for surface operations.

Chang'e-5 and 6 are sample return missions, delivering lunar rock and soil to laboratories on Earth.

Is there a 'dark side of the Moon'?

The lunar far side is often referred to as the "dark side", though "dark" in this case means "unseen" rather than "lacking light". In fact, both the near and far sides of the Moon experience daytime and nighttime.

But because of a phenomenon called "tidal locking", we see only one face of the Moon from Earth. This is because the Moon takes just as long to rotate on its own axis as it takes to complete one orbit of Earth.

The far side has a thicker, older crust that is pocked with more craters. There are also very few of the "maria" - dark basaltic "seas" created by lava flows - that are evident on the near side.

How will scientists keep track of the rover?

In an article for the US-based Planetary Society in September, Dr Long Xiao from the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), said: "The challenge faced by a far side mission is communications. With no view of Earth, there is no way to establish a direct radio link."

So the landers must communicate with Earth using a relay satellite named Queqiao - or Magpie Bridge - launched by China last May.

Queqiao orbits 65,000km beyond the Moon, around a Lagrange point - a kind of gravitational parking spot in space where it will remain visible to ground stations in China and other countries such as Argentina.

What are China's plans in space?

China wants to become a leading power in space exploration, alongside the United States and Russia.

In 2017 it announced it was planning to send astronauts to the Moon.

It will also begin building its own space station next year, with the hope it will be operating by 2022.

The chief designer of China's lunar exploration programme, Wu Weiren, has described Thursday's landing as "an important milestone" for the country's space effort, state media report.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A full-size model of the Tianhe core module of China's space station

The BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing says the propaganda value of China's leaps forward in its space programme has been tempered by careful media management. There was very little news of the Chang'e 4 landing attempt before the official announcement it had been a success.

But Fred Watson, who promotes Australia's astronomy endeavours as its astronomer-at-large, says the secrecy could simply be down to caution, similar to that shown by the Soviet Union in the early days of its competition with Nasa.

"The Chinese space agency is a young organisation, but perhaps in years to come, it will catch up," he told the BBC.

Ye Quanzhi says China has made efforts to be more open.

"They live-streamed the launch of Chang'e 2 and 3, as well as the landing of Chang'e 3. PR skills take time to develop but I think China will get there," he said.

China has been a late starter when it comes to space exploration. Only in 2003, it sent its first astronaut into orbit, making it the third country to do so, after the Soviet Union and the US.

The far side landing has already been heralded by experts at Nasa as "a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment". </s> Image copyright CNSA Image caption Artwork: The Chang'e-4 rover will explore a huge impact basin on the far side

China has launched the first mission to land a robotic craft on the far side of the Moon, Chinese media say.

The Chang'e-4 mission will see a static lander and rover touch down in Von Kármán crater, located on the side of the Moon which never faces Earth.

The payload blasted off atop a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

The mission will pave the way for the country to deliver samples of Moon rock and soil to Earth.

The landing will not occur until early January, when the probe will descend on thrusters and touch down on the rugged terrain of the lunar far side.

Von Kármán crater is of interest to scientists because it is located within the oldest and largest impact feature on the Moon - the South Pole-Aitken Basin. This was probably formed by a giant asteroid impact billions of years ago.

The landers will characterise the region's geology and the composition of rock and soil.

Because of a phenomenon called "tidal locking", we see only one "face" of the Moon from Earth. This is because the Moon takes just as long to rotate on its own axis as it takes to complete one orbit of Earth.

Though often referred to as the "dark side", this face of the Moon is also illuminated by the Sun and has the same phases as the near side; "dark" in this context simply means "unseen".

Image copyright NASA Image caption The lunar far side has a thicker crust and is more heavily cratered than the near side

The far side looks rather different to the more familiar near side. It has a thicker, older crust that is pocked with more craters. There are also few of the "mare" - dark basaltic "seas" created by lava flows - that are evident on the near side.

The powerful impact that created the South Pole Aitken Basin may have punched through the crust down to the Moon's mantle layer. Chang'e-4's instruments could examine whether this was the case, shedding light on the early history of our only natural satellite.

Seed experiment

The mission will also characterise the "radio environment" on the far side, a test designed to lay the groundwork for the creation of future radio astronomy telescopes on the far side, which is shielded from the radio noise of Earth.

The static lander will carry a 3kg (6.6lb) container with potato and arabidopsis plant seeds to perform a biological experiment. The "lunar mini biosphere" experiment was designed by 28 Chinese universities.

"We want to study the respiration of the seeds and the photosynthesis on the Moon," Liu Hanlong, chief director of the experiment and vice president of Chongqing University, told the state-run Xinhua news agency earlier this year.

Image copyright CNSA Image caption China's Yutu rover, part of the Chang'e-3 mission, explored the Moon in 2013

Xie Gengxin, chief designer of the experiment, told Xinhua: "We have to keep the temperature in the 'mini biosphere' within a range from 1 degree to 30 degrees, and properly control the humidity and nutrition. We will use a tube to direct the natural light on the surface of Moon into the tin to make the plants grow."

Because the landers on the far side have no line of sight with our planet, they must send data back via a relay satellite named Queqiao, launched by China in May this year.

The probe's design is based on that of its predecessor, Chang'e-3, which deployed landing craft to the Moon's Mare Imbrium region in 2013. However, it has some important modifications.

China's lunar ambitions

The lander is carrying two cameras; a German-built radiation experiment called LND; and a spectrometer that will perform the low-frequency radio astronomy observations.

The rover will carry a panoramic camera; a radar to probe beneath the lunar surface; an imaging spectrometer to identify minerals; and an experiment to examine the interaction of the solar wind (a stream of energised particles from the Sun) with the lunar surface.

The mission is part of a larger Chinese programme of lunar exploration. The first and second Chang'e missions were designed to gather data from orbit, while the third and fourth were built for surface operations.

Chang'e-5 and 6 are sample return missions, delivering lunar rock and soil to laboratories on Earth.

Follow Paul on Twitter. </s> CHINA’S Chang’e-4 probe decelerated and entered a lunar orbit yesterday, completing a vital step on its way to making the first soft landing on the far side of the moon.

After traveling 110 hours from the Earth, an engine on the probe was ignited when it was 129km above the surface of the moon, said the China National Space Administration. The probe then slowed, and entered an elliptical lunar orbit at 100km above the surface. The probe, including a lander and a rover, was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket last Saturday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

The control center will choose a proper time to land after testing communications.

The Chang’e-4 mission will be a key step in revealing the mysterious far side of the moon.

The scientific tasks of Chang’e-4 include low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure, and measuring neutron radiation and neutral atoms.

China has promoted international cooperation, with four scientific payloads of Chang’e-4 developed by scientists from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Saudi Arabia. </s> A Chinese lander destined for the far side of the Moon - the side that always faces away from the Earth - has now entered lunar orbit, Space News reports.

Early Wednesday morning, the spacecraft carrying the Chang'e-4 lander completed its journey from Earth, which took nearly five days, and settled into an elliptical orbit around the Moon.

If the mission is successful, Chang'e-4 will be the first-ever lander to explore the so-called "dark side of the Moon".

It'll rove the lunar surface, examine the Moon's composition, and even dabble in amateur gardening with a small pod that'll grow seeds and silkworm larvae.

To communicate with the Earth, Chang'e-4 will bounce signals off a relay satellite launched earlier this year.

Chinese officials haven't announced a firm date or location for the craft's landing, but it's expected to touch down in early January 2019, probably in the spacious Von Kármán crater.

China is already planning Chang'e-5, the mission to come after Chang'e-4. If all goes according to plan, that will be China's first Moon mission to return samples back to Earth and it'll launch in late 2019.

This article was first published on Futurity and is republished here under a CC BY 4.0 license. Read the original article.
China National Space Administration's robotic lander Chang'e 4 successfully lands at the Von Kármán lunar crater on the far side of the Moon.