China’s next big space mission: the far side of the moon

IN a bid to become the new world leader in space exploration, China is set to go boldly where no superpower has been before.

China is about to undertake a technically challenging space mission. Trump launches moon mission

THIS year, China plans to boldly go where no superpower has previously been before — the far side of the moon.

In a bid to become the new world leader in lunar exploration, China will launch a pair of missions known collectively as Chang’e 4, The Guardian reports.

It is the fourth mission in a series named after the Chinese moon goddess.

By landing on the far side of the moon, China will outdo the historical achievements of the US and the USSR.

In 2013, China deployed the Jade Rabbit rover for the first soft landing on the moon since 1976.

No one has ever attempted this kind of lunar landing before.

“The Chinese are pushing back the frontier with such a technically challenging mission,” Brian Harvey, space analyst and author of China in Space: The Great Leap Forward, told The Guardian.

In June 2018, the first component of Chang’e 4 — a relay satellite — will lift off. The satellite will be stationed some 60,000km behind the moon and will provide a communications link between Earth and the lunar far side.

China wants to outdo other world superpowers by landing on the far side of the moon.

Once this link is established, it will allow China to send the second part of the mission: a lander to the far side’s surface.

In 2013 Chang’e 3, deploying the Jade Rabbit rover, made headlines around the world for the first soft landing on the moon since 1976.