China to launch lunar lander

Experts say the lander and rover for the Chang'e-4 mission will be launched in December, according toSpaceThe announcement was made at a press conference held by the State Administration of Science, Technology and National Defense of China (SASTIND) on August 15.

The moon always faces only one side of the Earth. If the mission goes well, China will become the first country to land a device on the far side, or the unobserved side of the moon. At the press conference, the team also announced the design of the rover and held a contest to name the vehicle.

Chang'e-4 will launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China aboard a Long March-3B rocket. Chang'e-4 is targeting the Moon's South-Aitken basin, with the exact location likely to be in or around the Von Kármán crater. The project team has decided on a final landing site but has not yet announced it.

The contest to name the rover runs until September 5. The official name is expected to be announced in October, and the winner will be invited to attend the launch of Chang’e 4.

Chang'e-4 was originally built as a backup for Chang'e-3. During the Chang'e-3 mission, China successfully landed a lander and rover on the near side of the Moon in December 2013. This event made China one of the few countries to have landed a lunar lander.

After the success of Chang'e-3, Chang'e-4 changed its focus to undertake a more challenging mission. The lander and rover look similar to Chang'e-3 in both shape and size, but have actually been modified to suit the new mission. Chang'e-4 can cope with the complex terrain on the far side of the Moon, meet the requirements of communication via relay satellites and carry scientific equipment, according to Wu Weiren, an expert on the project.

Chang'e 4 will carry potatoes, rapeseeds and silkworm eggs to conduct a biosphere experiment conceived by 28 Chinese universities. Since the other side of the moon does not return to Earth, a relay satellite is needed to help exchange information between Chang'e 4 and a ground station.

The satellite is named Queqiao and was launched into space from Xichang in late May. At a press conference on August 15, scientists also said that the satellite is still functioning well, creating conditions for China to continue launching Chang'e 4.