China plans to launch Chang'e-4 lunar probe to the dark side of the moon in 2018, as announced by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry.
Liu Jizhong, director of the lunar exploration program and space engineering center, says the probe will carry out a series of on-site detection activities.
"There are many ancient rocks on the dark side of the moon, which will help us to understand the moon's evolution."
In announcing the plan, scientists have also begun to ask for public ideas about what to bring with the lunar probe.
The soliciting process concludes at the end of March.
Qian Yan, an official with the national science administration, says this is to encourage more public participation in scientific innovation.
"Every time when a major space project is successfully implemented, such as the achievement of the Shenzhou spacecraft entering orbit and Shenzhou-10's docking mission with Tiangong-1, the passion for scientific and technological innovation will be greatly inspired among the public, especially youngsters."
The dark side of the moon is never visible to Earth because of gravitational forces and has never been explored by humans because of communication loss.
Liu Jizhong says the Chang'e-4 mission can solve the communication issue.
"The biggest difference this time is that we have added a relay satellite for communications from the Earth to the moon. Meanwhile, we have also arranged some research work for the satellite."
The relay satellite is scheduled to be sent in June 2018, and then a lander and a rover at the end of 2018.
Liu says Chang'e 4's design will be different from previous generations of landers.
"On the far side, a lot of environment and conditions are unknown. And the landform is complex. So we need to make some changes on the design of Chang'e 4 comparing with Chang's 3."
China achieved its first soft-landing on the moon with Chang'e-3 in 2013, following the Soviet Union and the United States.
China also plans to launch its Chang'e-5 lunar probe around 2017 to finish the final chapter in China's three-step moon exploration program, which includes the probe's orbiting, landing and returning missions.
For CRI, this is Wang Mengzhen.
