China has announced plans to become the first country to land a lunar probe on the far side of the moon, according to state media.
On Tuesday, Zou Yongliao, a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, confirmed the mission at a deep space exploration forum.
In December 2013, China successfully landed a spacecraft, the Chang’e-3, on the moon, and in doing so became only the third nation after the United States and Russia to accomplish the feat.
Tasked with landing on the far side of the moon, or commonly referred to as the “dark side of the moon,” will be the Chang’e-4, a probe initially designed as a backup to the Chang’e-3, but was chosen for this mission due to its greater payload capacity.
While probes have observed the dark side of the moon, which is never visible to Earth due to gravitational forces, a landing has never been attempted, due to a greater technical difficulty.
On the dark side of the moon, no radio waves from Earth can be received, as the moon itself blocks interfering waves originating from Earth, according to the International Business Times.
However, a lack of radio waves makes the dark side of the moon an ideal place for studying radio waves, and an ideal location to place permanent radio telescopes.
With the Chang’e-4 set to launch before 2020, China plans to study the geology of the dark side of the moon, and to place a radio telescope there for future research.