- China on December 8, 2018 launched Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission destined to land on the far side of the moon, where no human spacecraft has ever been touched.
- It was launched on a Long March 3B rocket from the southwestern Xichang launch centre.
- As per the Chinese news agency, it is a global first that would boost China’s ambitions to become a space superpower.
- The mission is named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology.
- After landing, it will study the far side of the moon which is expected to land around the New Year.
- According to the the mission’s chief commander He Rongwei of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, Chang’e-4 is humanity’s first probe to land on and explore the far side of the moon
- This mission is also the most meaningful deep space exploration research project in the world in 2018.
- Unlike the near side of the moon that is “tidally locked” and always faces the earth, and offers many flat areas to touch down on, the far side is mountainous and rugged.
- It was not until 1959 that the Soviet Union captured the first images of the heavily cratered surface, uncloaking some of the mystery of the moon’s “dark side”.
- No lander or rover has ever touched the surface there, positioning China as the first to explore the area.
