China is about to launch a mission to explore the far side of the moon
China is heading to an unknown lunar landscape. If all goes to plan, it will become the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon.
The Chang’e 4 mission, which includes both a lander and a rover, is scheduled to take off today at 1830 GMT from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is yet to announce a specific landing date.
The mission’s main task is to land on the far side of the moon, which never faces us because the moon and Earth are tidally locked by gravity. Previous lunar probes have only studied this side from orbit. “We will get a close-up look of the far side of the moon,” says Clive Neal at University of Notre Dame, who is not involved in the mission. Getting a good view of the craters on its surface could teach us much more about the history of the solar system, he says.
