Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Far side of Moon captured by Chinese spacecraft

China says it has successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the Moon, the first ever such attempt and landing.

At 10:26 Beijing time (02:26 GMT), the un-crewed Chang'e-4 probe touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, state media said.

It is carrying instruments to analyse the unexplored region's geology, as well to conduct biological experiments.

The landing is being seen as a major milestone in space exploration.

There have been numerous missions to the Moon in recent years, but the vast majority have been to orbit, fly by or impact. The last crewed landing was Apollo 17 in 1972.

Why China has its eye on the stars

Image copyright EPA/CNSA Image caption All pictures and data have to be bounced off a separate satellite

The Chang'e-4 probe has already sent back its first pictures from the surface, which were shared by state media.

With no direct communication link possible, all pictures and data have to be bounced off a separate satellite before being relayed to Earth.

Why is this Moon landing so significant?

Previous Moon missions have landed on the Earth-facing side, but this is the first time any craft has landed successfully on the unexplored and rugged far side.

Some spacecraft have crashed into the far side, either after system failures, or after they had completed their mission.

Ye Quanzhi, an astronomer at Caltech, told the BBC this was the first time China had "attempted something that other space powers have not attempted before".

Image copyright EPA/CNSA Image caption The far side is not visible from the Earth due to "tidal locking"

The Chang'e-4 was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China on 7 December; it arrived in lunar orbit on 12 December.

It was then directed to lower itself toward the Moon, being careful to identify and avoid obstacles, Chinese state media say.

The Chang'e-4 probe is aiming to explore a place called the Von Kármán crater, located within the much larger South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin - thought to have been formed by a giant impact early in the Moon's history.

"This huge structure is over 2,500km (1,550 miles) in diameter and 13km deep, one of the largest impact craters in the Solar System and the largest, deepest and oldest basin on the Moon," Andrew Coates, professor of physics at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey, told the BBC.

The event responsible for carving out the SPA basin is thought to have been so powerful, it punched through the Moon's crust and down into the zone called the mantle. Researchers will want to train the instruments on any mantle rocks exposed by the calamity.

The science team also hopes to study parts of the sheet of melted rock that would have filled the newly formed South Pole-Aitken Basin, allowing them to identify variations in its composition.

A third objective is to study the far-side regolith, the broken up rocks and dust that make up the surface, which will help us understand the formation of the Moon.

What else might we learn from this mission?

Chang'e-4's static lander is carrying two cameras; a German-built radiation experiment called LND; and a spectrometer that will perform low-frequency radio astronomy observations.

Scientists believe the far side could be an excellent place to perform radio astronomy, because it is shielded from the radio noise of Earth. The spectrometer work will aim to test this idea.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A mock-up of the Chang'e-4 lander and rover, on display in Dongguan, China

The lander also carried a container with six live species from Earth - cotton, rapeseed, potato, fruit fly, yeast and arabidopsis (a flowering plant) - to try to form a mini biosphere.

The arabidopsis plant may produce the first flower on the Moon, Chinese state media say.

Other equipment/experiments include:

A panoramic camera

A radar to probe beneath the lunar surface

An imaging spectrometer to identify minerals

An experiment to examine the interaction of the solar wind (a stream of energised particles from the Sun) with the lunar surface

The mission is part of a larger Chinese programme of lunar exploration. The first and second Chang'e missions were designed to gather data from orbit, while the third and fourth were built for surface operations.

Chang'e-5 and 6 are sample return missions, delivering lunar rock and soil to laboratories on Earth.

Is there a 'dark side of the Moon'?

The lunar far side is often referred to as the "dark side", though "dark" in this case means "unseen" rather than "lacking light". In fact, both the near and far sides of the Moon experience daytime and nighttime.

But because of a phenomenon called "tidal locking", we see only one face of the Moon from Earth. This is because the Moon takes just as long to rotate on its own axis as it takes to complete one orbit of Earth.

The far side has a thicker, older crust that is pocked with more craters. There are also very few of the "maria" - dark basaltic "seas" created by lava flows - that are evident on the near side.

How will scientists keep track of the rover?

In an article for the US-based Planetary Society in September, Dr Long Xiao from the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), said: "The challenge faced by a far side mission is communications. With no view of Earth, there is no way to establish a direct radio link."

So the landers must communicate with Earth using a relay satellite named Queqiao - or Magpie Bridge - launched by China last May.

Queqiao orbits 65,000km beyond the Moon, around a Lagrange point - a kind of gravitational parking spot in space where it will remain visible to ground stations in China and other countries such as Argentina.

What are China's plans in space?

China wants to become a leading power in space exploration, alongside the United States and Russia.

In 2017 it announced it was planning to send astronauts to the Moon.

It will also begin building its own space station next year, with the hope it will be operating by 2022.

The chief designer of China's lunar exploration programme, Wu Weiren, has described Thursday's landing as "an important milestone" for the country's space effort, state media report.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A full-size model of the Tianhe core module of China's space station

The BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing says the propaganda value of China's leaps forward in its space programme has been tempered by careful media management. There was very little news of the Chang'e 4 landing attempt before the official announcement it had been a success.

But Fred Watson, who promotes Australia's astronomy endeavours as its astronomer-at-large, says the secrecy could simply be down to caution, similar to that shown by the Soviet Union in the early days of its competition with Nasa.

"The Chinese space agency is a young organisation, but perhaps in years to come, it will catch up," he told the BBC.

Ye Quanzhi says China has made efforts to be more open.

"They live-streamed the launch of Chang'e 2 and 3, as well as the landing of Chang'e 3. PR skills take time to develop but I think China will get there," he said.

China has been a late starter when it comes to space exploration. Only in 2003, it sent its first astronaut into orbit, making it the third country to do so, after the Soviet Union and the US.

The far side landing has already been heralded by experts at Nasa as "a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment".</s>Beijing: A Chinese lunar rover successfully landed on the far side of the moon on Thursday, becoming the world’s first spacecraft to survey the moon’s uncharted mysterious side, a giant leap in cosmic exploration and a major boost to the Communist giant’s quest to become a space superpower.

 The lunar explorer Chang’e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon and has already sent back its first pictures from the surface, which were shared by state media.

 The probe, comprising a lander and a rover, landed at the preselected landing area at 177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude on the far side of the moon at 10:26 am (local time), China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.

 The robotic spacecraft is carrying instruments to analyse the unexplored region’s geology and will conduct biological experiments. The first-ever soft landing is being seen as a major milestone in space exploration because unlike previous moon missions that have landed on the Earth-facing side, this is the first time any craft has landed on the unexplored and rugged far side of the moon.

 The successful landing formally inaugurated the world’s first expedition to the far side that never faces the Earth and is expected to fulfil scientists’ long-held aspiration to closely observe the enormous region, state-run China Daily reported.

 Though the far side has been extensively photographed by spacecraft, starting with a Soviet probe in 1959, no probe had ever made a soft landing onto it. Scientists around the world have not been able to conduct close observations and surveys of the region for decades.

 The probe was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket on December 8 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province. It landed on the Von Karman crater in the South Pole-Aitken basin and then sent back a picture of the landing site shot by one of the monitor cameras on the probe’s lander, marking the world’s first image taken on the moon’s far side.

 The picture, published by the China National Space Administration, shows the place where Chang’e 4’s rover will be heading to roam and survey. Tidal forces on Earth slow the moon’s rotation to the point where the same side always faces Earth.

 The other side, most of which is never visible from Earth, is the far side of the moon. Direct communication with the far side of the moon, however, is not possible, which is one of the many challenges for the Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission.

 The other face, most of which cannot be seen from Earth, is called the far side or “dark side” of the moon, not because it is dark, but because most of it is uncharted. The Chang’e-4 mission will be a key step in revealing the moon’s mysterious side, a report by state-run Xinhua news agency said.

 The scientific tasks of the Chang’e-4 mission include low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon, according to CNSA.

 The spacecraft is largely a clone of Chang’e-3, which landed on the moon in 2013. Named after the goddess of the moon in Chinese legends, the first Chang’e spacecraft was launched in 2007 to verify China’s lunar probe technology, obtain lunar images and perform scientific surveys.

 The Chang’e 2 followed in 2010 to carry out high-definition imaging of the moon and investigate landing conditions for the Chang’e 3.

 Chang’e 3 landed on the moon in 2013. Chang’e 3 released the first Chinese lunar rover, Yutu, on the moon. It worked there for around 1,000 days. (PTI)</s>Beijing’s space ambitions boosted as Chang’e-4 successfully lands and sends photo of ‘dark side’ of the moon

A Chinese lunar rover landed on the far side of the moon on Thursday, in a global first that boosts Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower.

The Chang’e-4 probe touched down and sent a photo of the so-called “dark side” of the moon to the Queqiao satellite, which will relay communications to controllers on Earth, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Beijing is pouring billions into its military-run space program, with hopes of having a crewed space station by 2022, and of eventually sending humans to the moon.

The Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission—named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology—launched in December from the southwestern Xichang launch center. It is the second Chinese probe to land on the moon, following the Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover mission in 2013.

Unlike the near side of the moon that offers many flat areas to touch down on, the far side is mountainous and rugged.

The moon is “tidally locked” to Earth in its rotation so the same side is always facing Earth. Chang’e-4 is carrying six experiments from China and four from abroad, including low-frequency radio astronomical studies—aiming to take advantage of the lack of interference on the far side.

The rover will also conduct mineral and radiation tests, the China National Space Administration has said, according to state news agency Xinhua.

It was not until 1959 that the Soviet Union captured the first images of the moon’s mysterious and heavily cratered “dark side.” No lander or rover has ever previously touched the surface there, and it is no easy technological feat—China has been preparing for this moment for years.

A major challenge for such a mission was communicating with the robotic lander: as there is no direct “line of sight” for signals to the far side of the moon. As a solution, China in May blasted the Queqiao (“Magpie Bridge”) satellite into the moon’s orbit, positioning it so that it can relay data and commands between the lander and Earth.

In another extreme hurdle, during the lunar night—which lasts 14 Earth days—temperatures drop to as low as minus 173 degrees Celsius (minus 279 Fahrenheit). During the lunar day, also lasting 14 Earth days, temperatures soar as high as 127 C (261 F).

The rover’s instruments have to withstand those fluctuations and it has to generate enough energy to sustain it during the long night.

Adding to the difficulties, Chang’e-4 was sent to the Aitken Basin in the lunar south pole region—known for its craggy and complex terrain—state media has said.

Yutu also conquered those challenges and, after initial setbacks, ultimately surveyed the moon’s surface for 31 months. Its success provided a major boost to China’s space program.

Beijing is planning to send another lunar lander, Chang’e-5, next year to collect samples and bring them back to Earth. It is among a slew of ambitious Chinese targets, which include a reusable launcher by 2021, a super-powerful rocket capable of delivering payloads heavier than those NASA and private rocket firm SpaceX can handle, a moon base, a permanently crewed space station, and a Mars rover.</s>In a first for any country, China has successfully landed a rover on the far side of the lunar surface. The state media announced on Thursday that its space agency has successfully landed a rover on the far side of the moon. This is a huge milestone as the country aims to become a leader in the space programs carried out around the world. The China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) landed the Chang’e 4 lunar probe in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which is an impact crater, at 10:26AM Beijing time on Thursday, according to a report by China Central Television (CCTV).

The report notes that the rover made its final descent from a landing orbit 15 kilometers above the moon’s surface. The rover, after landing, transmitted back the world’s first close range image of the far side of the moon. The state media did not share any other details of this historic landing. The announcement came in a controversial moment after the state media outlets China Daily and China Global Television Network (CGTN) deleted posts on social media where they claimed the mission a success.

The posts deleted by Chinese media raises a speculation as to whether the probe really landed on the far side of the lunar surface. Landing a probe on the far side of the moon is an achievement since it is the hemisphere that never faces earth due to its rotation. It is even referred to as the “dark side of the moon” and it received as much sunlight as the side facing the earth.

The state media reported that the Chang’e lunar mission lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province on December 8 and entered the moon’s orbit four days later. Once safely on the moon, the lander will conduct the first lunar low-frequency radio astronomy experiment. Its other to-do include observing whether plants will grow in the low-gravity environment and then explore whether there is water or other resources at the poles.

“Since the far side of the moon is shielded from electromagnetic interference from the Earth, it’s an ideal place to research the space environment and solar bursts, and the probe can ‘listen’ to the deeper reaches of the cosmos,” Tongjie Liu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center for the China National Space Administration, was quoted by CNN.

The Chang’e 4 rover is 1.5 meters long and about 1 meter wide and tall. It has two foldable solar panels and six wheels and it is free from interference from radio frequencies. Another function of the mission is to study the interaction between solar winds and the moon surface using a new rover. This landing shows China‘s intent to become a leader in space technologies as other agencies aim to send humans to Martian space and establish a habitat there.</s>Humans have landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon for the first time in history.

China's Chang'e 4 spacecraft achieved the milestone on Jan. 3, with the country's space agency landing its lunar probe in Von Kármán crater on the moon's mysterious far side. Official word was provided at 8 p.m. PT by Chinese State Media service CCTV.

Launched on Dec. 7, the Chang'e 4 craft contains both a lunar lander and a six-wheeled rover. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on Dec. 12 before preparations for landing nudged the spacecraft into an elliptical lunar orbit, getting as close as 15 kilometres (around 9 miles) to the surface.

Unlike NASA's history-making mission to Mars in November and the agency's flyby of the mysterious Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 on New Year's Day, China's landmark landing wasn't televised. Social media accounts on Chinese giant Weibo reported that the lunar probe touched down at around 6:26 p.m. PT but confirmation of the reports was hard to come by. After tweets by Chinese State-owned media outlets China Daily and China Global Television Network made their way online, the Twittersphere was abuzz... but the tweets were quickly deleted.

According to Andrew Jones, a journalist reporting on the Chinese space program, Chang'e 4's descent required "laser ranging and optical cameras for navigation, velocity and coarse hazard avoidance." Practically, this meant Chang'e 4 was on its own as it descended to the surface with its important scientific payload, on a side of the moon marked by rugged terrain.

NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon almost 50 years ago, but navigating to the far side poses a unique communications challenge. Sometimes known as the "dark side" of the moon, even though it does receive sunlight, the far side never faces the Earth because of tidal locking. That means budding human (or robot) explorers have to find a way to establish and maintain radio contact.

To communicate with the Chang'e 4 mission on the moon's surface, the Chinese space agency launched the Queqiao relay satellite into a halo orbit over the dark side of the moon in May. The satellite overcomes the communications challenge, allowing the lander and rover to phone home, via relay, and send scientific data back.

Both the rover and the lander are equipped with a suite of instruments that will allow the Chinese space agency to study the geology of Von Kármán crater, including three cameras. The ancient crater, part of the 13 kilometre deep South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin, is believed to hold material kicked up from deep within the lunar soil due to an impact early on in the Moon's life, providing new insights on what makes up its interior. The lander also carries seeds and silkworm eggs within a sealed container and will examine whether the two lifeforms can thrive on the moon.

Other instruments, developed by Swedish and German engineers, will allow the lunar robots to better study solar wind, charged particles that burst forth from the sun's atmosphere. Payloads were also provided by partners in the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

The last lander on the moon was Chang'e 4's predecessor, Chang'e 3, which soft-landed in a crater known as the Mare Imbrium in December 2013. In January 2014, the rover underwent a mechanical control abnormality and ceased to transmit data in March 2015. However, the lander remains on the near side of the moon.

The moon really is the place to be in 2019, with various international space agencies ready to explore Earth's only natural satellite. Chang'e 4's mission is slated to last a year, but a subsequent lunar exploration mission -- Chang'e 5 -- is scheduled to launch toward the end of the year. If successful, it would be the first mission to the moon to return samples since Luna 24 in 1976.

NASA turns 60: The space agency has taken humanity farther than anyone else, and it has plans to go further.

Taking It to Extremes: Mix insane situations -- erupting volcanoes, nuclear meltdowns, 30-foot waves -- with everyday tech. Here's what happens.</s>China’s space programme scored a major victory on Thursday morning when the Chang’e 4 lunar spacecraft landed on the dark side of the moon, territory that has never before been explored.

The probe completed the world’s first ever soft-landing on the uncharted far side at 10.26am Hong Kong time, and almost immediately transmitted a “close range” image of the mysterious land back to Earth.

The photograph showed Chang’e was sitting in a relatively flat area with a small crater just metres away. The mountain range of the Von Karman crater could be seen in the distance.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said the mission had “lifted the mysterious veil” from the far side of the moon, which is permanently blocked from view from Earth, and “opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration”.

“China is making a tremendous effort to become a space power. This mission will be a landmark event in this endeavour,” Wu Weiren, chief scientist of the Chang’e 4 programme, said in an interview with state broadcaster China Central Television.

“It is a perfect display of human intelligence,” said Jia Yang, the probe’s deputy chief designer from the China Academy of Space Technology was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

China’s Chang’e 4 lunar probe sends first photo of far side of the moon after historic soft landing

But making a soft and successful landing is just the start. The next stage of the mission, according to the CNSA, is for Chang’e 4 to release a rover to explore the surrounding area, fire up ground penetration radar to map the moon’s inner structures, analyse soil and rock samples for minerals and chemicals with potential economic values, and activate a radio telescope to search for possible signals from distant universes.

The probes also carried a canister filled with air, soil, water, bacterium, silkworm eggs, the seeds of a small flowering plant and a potato. Scientists hope that the small eco-system will spring to life and produce the first blossoming flowers on the moon in about three months’ time.

Dr Chen Hongqiao, a researcher at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in the south China city of Guangzhou, said the landing could intensify the space race between China and the United States.

“Today the fight [between China and the US] is on trade. Tomorrow it can be on the moon,” he said.

The US government recently announced an ambitious plan to colonise the moon with a permanent outpost. The first stage of such a programme would involve Nasa building a space station, known as a lunar orbital platform, within the moon’s orbit, which would serve as a gateway to future settlements.

What you need to know about China’s lunar mission



Dr Zhu Jin, the director of Beijing Planetarium, said the new race between China and the US to the moon would be “very different” from the previous one between the US and the former Soviet Union during the cold war.

“The previous one was largely driven by politics,” Zhu said. “This race will be mainly driven by a genuine interest in the moon itself and potential business opportunities.”

The former Soviet Union launched the world’s first lunar satellite in 1959, while the US achieved six manned landings. Of the 265 spacecraft sent towards the moon by all nations, only one US probe made it to the far side, but it crashed.

Plainly aware of the risks involved in the Chang’e 4 mission, China decided not to broadcast it live so as to reduce the pressure on the scientists and engineers involved, according to a researcher with knowledge of the matter.

China can be proud as Chang’e 4 lands on far side of the moon



During its landing, the 4 tonne Chang’e 4 lunar craft fired its reverse thrusters about 10:15am to reduce speed and made a steep descent towards one of the most deadly landing zones in the solar system, the CNSA said.

Unlike the relatively flat, smooth near side of the moon that faces the Earth, more than 90 per cent of the surface of the far side is rugged, featuring mountains twice the height of Everest.

Communication is also a challenge. Radio waves from Earth cannot reach the far side back of the moon, so Change 4’s link to the flight control centre in Beijing is dependent entirely on a small, distant relaying satellite called Queqiao.

During its descent, Chang’e 4 had to aim its antenna constantly at Queqiao to avoid losing contact. About 100 metres (330 feet) above the lunar surface, the spacecraft hovered automatically and scanned the area below with a high definition camera for unexpected rocks and slopes.

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Chang’e 4 was launched atop a Long March 3B carrier rocket on December 8 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China’s Sichuan province. It entered lunar orbit four days later.

The Von Karman crater, about twice the size of Los Angeles, is named after Theodore von Karman, lead scientist of the early US space programme. Karmon is also the mentor of Hsue-Shen Tsien, the founding father of China’s space programme, so the landing site had significant meaning, state media said.

China was not without help on the Chang’e 4 mission. Scientists from The Netherlands contributed to the construction of a low frequency signal detector, while experts from Germany helped build the device to measure radioactivity on the lunar surface. Sweden provided the atomic detector and Saudi Arabia contributed a camera.

China also has plans to launch a returnable spacecraft – Chang’e 5 – by 2020, which will include a lunar lander and a rover that could return to Earth after collecting samples and performing lunar surveys.</s>China has become the first nation to ever land on the far side of the Moon, touching down overnight in a historic landing that demonstrates its rapidly growing spaceflight capabilities.

Their Chang’e 4 lander touched down near a region called the South Pole-Aitken Basin at about 2.26am UTC today, January 3. China’s state-run news networks, including China Global Television Network (CGTN), posted the news on Twitter after a lack of information in the run-up to the landing.

“China's Chang'e-4 probe lands successfully on far side of the moon,” the CGTN wrote on Twitter, “marking the first ever soft-landing in this uncharted area.”

Chang’e 4 is the second lander and rover China has sent to the Moon, after the twin Chang’e 3 mission in 2013. That mission landed on the Moon’s near-side, however, which has been explored before by the US and the Soviet Union. Chang’e 4 instead attempted something never done before.

The mission consists of a stationary lander weighing about 1,200 kilograms (2,600 pounds), and a rover weighing about 140 kilograms (310 pounds). It’s understood that the rover will make its way onto the surface later today, travelling down a ramp from the lander, although that has yet to be confirmed.

As the Moon is tidally locked to Earth, one side of it always points towards our planet, and the other – the far side – always points away. Although spacecraft have orbited the Moon and imaged the far side, no one has landed there due in part to the technological challenges.

In order to communicate with its lander on the far side, China launched a relay satellite called Queqiao in May 2018 into a gravitationally stable location 65,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) beyond the Moon. Here, this satellite is both in sight of the lander and Earth, so all communications can be passed through it.

The landing itself was largely autonomous, however, with the lander touching down in a region known as the Von Kármán Crater. This is located within the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which at 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) across is the largest impact crater on the Moon.

It’s hoped that this region could contain some fascinating details about the Moon’s history. Some of the Moon’s mantle is believed to have been pulled up to the surface in this location, which Chang’e 4 will be able to study.

The mission also has three cameras, which will be used to return stunning images to Earth, and a ground-penetrating radar, which will be able to peer 100 meters (330 feet) below the surface. There are also two European experiments on board to study incoming particles on the Moon.

The Moon takes 28 days to rotate, giving most regions 14 days of sunlight and 14 days of night. Chang’e 4 has landed as close to the start of day at its location as possible, which began on December 30. This will give its solar panels ample sunlight, before freezing temperatures accompany lunar night in mid-January.

All eyes will now be on how much this mission can achieve. The rover on the Chang’e 3 mission failed to last the lunar night, but its lander – called Yutu – is still operational today. Whatever Chang’e 4 achieves from now on will be a bonus, on top of what has already been a historic landing in the history of spaceflight.</s>In an historic first, China has successfully landed a rover on the far side of the moon, Chinese state media announced Thursday, a huge milestone for the nation as it attempts to position itself as a leading space power.

China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) landed the Chang’e 4 lunar probe at 10:26 am Beijing time on Thursday, in the South Pole-Aitken Basin which is an impact crater, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

 It made its final descent from a landing orbit 15 kilometers above the moon’s surface.

State media reported the rover transmitted back the world’s first close range image of the far side of the moon. No other details were immediately available.

The announcement came shortly after state media outlets China Daily and China Global Television Network (CGTN) deleted posts on social media proclaiming the mission a success, sparking widespread confusion as to whether the probe had in fact had made touchdown.

No explanation was given as to why the tweets were deleted. On social media, observers speculated as to the cause of the apparent backtracking, with many wondering if the mission had experienced a temporary upset, or whether it was a simple case of state media jumping the gun ahead of the official announcement.

The far side of the moon is the hemisphere that never faces earth, due to the moon’s rotation. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the “dark side of the moon,” even though it receives just as much sunlight as its earth-facing side.

The Chang’e 4 lunar mission lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province on December 8 and entered the moon’s orbit four days later, according to Chinese state media.

Once safely on the moon, the lander will tackle a long to-do list, including conducting the first lunar low-frequency radio astronomy experiment, observe whether plants will grow in the low-gravity environment, and explore whether there is water or other resources at the poles.

Another function of the mission is to study the interaction between solar winds and the moon surface using a new rover.

“Since the far side of the moon is shielded from electromagnetic interference from the Earth, it’s an ideal place to research the space environment and solar bursts, and the probe can ‘listen’ to the deeper reaches of the cosmos,” said Tongjie Liu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center for the China National Space Administration.

Because of the far side’s position facing away from earth, it is free from interference from radio frequencies and therefore it’s not possible for the lunar rover to communicate directly with ground control. This is often cited as a reason other space agencies have not landed a probe or rover there before. The mission requires a relay satellite to transmit signals that was launched into place this year.

The Chang’e 4 rover is 1.5 meters (5 feet) long and about 1 meter (3.3 feet) wide and tall, with two foldable solar panels and six wheels.

“China is anxious to get into the record books with its space achievements,” said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the US Naval War College and an expert on China’s space program.

“It is highly likely that with the success of Chang’e — and the concurrent success of the human spaceflight Shenzhou program — the two programs will eventually be combined toward a Chinese human spaceflight program to the Moon,” she added. “Odds of the next voice transmission from the Moon being in Mandarin are high.”

China’s last lunar rover — named Yutu, or Jade Rabbit — ceased operation in August 2016 after 972 days of service on the moon’s surface as part of the Chang’e 3 mission. China was only the third nation to carry out a lunar landing, after the United States and Russia.

The overall design of the new rover is inherited from Jade Rabbit, according to the chief designer of China’s lunar probe program.

“We worked hard to improve its reliability, conducting thousands of experiments to ensure its long-term operation, especially taking into consideration rocks, ravines and frictions on the Moon,” Wu Weiren told state broadcaster CCTV in August.

Beijing plans to launch its first Mars probe around 2020 to carry out orbital and rover exploration, followed by a mission that would include collection of surface samples from the Red Planet.

China is also aiming to have a fully operational permanent space station by 2022, as the future of the International Space Station remains in doubt due to uncertain funding and complicated politics.

In comparison, despite its recent success in sending a robotic lander to Mars, the US space agency NASA has faced years of budgetary constraints.

The US Congress has barred NASA from working with China due to national security concerns.

“A high percentage of space technology is (civilian-military) dual use,” Johnson-Freese said. “The US sees pretty much everything China does in space — including things the US has done in space — as threatening.”

She suggested that combining military preparedness with diplomatic efforts would best deter perceived threats in space from all sides but added that “unfortunately, the US has not shown interest in diplomatic leadership regarding space security.”</s>China Lands On The Far Side Of The Moon

The Chinese lunar probe Chang'e-4 landed on the far side of the moon and transmitted images of the barren landscape back to Earth.</s>Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A spacecraft has landed on the far side of the moon for the first time, China's National Space Administration announced Thursday.

The rover Chang'e-4, which is named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology, landed at 10:26 a.m. Beijing time in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which is an impact crater, {link:state news agency Xinhua "http://english.cctv.com/2019/01/03/ARTIHC3ASInYbesRobBK8Bhv190103.shtml" target="_blank"} reported.

The United States and the Soviet Union are the only other nations to make a "soft landing" on the moon but no other country has touched down on the side of the moon that always faces away from the Earth. In 2013, China landed a rover on the moon's other side.

"This space mission shows that China has reached the advanced world-class level in deep space exploration," Zhu Menghua, a professor at the Macau University of Science and Technology who has worked closely with China's space administration, told The New York Times. "We Chinese people have done something that the Americans have not dared try."

China plans to put astronauts on a lunar base in about 10 years. The United States first landed a man on the moon in 1969.

"China views this landing as just a steppingstone, as it also views its future manned lunar landing, since its long-term goal is to colonize the moon and use it as a vast supply of energy," Namrata Goswami, an independent analyst who wrote about space for the Defense Department's Minerva Research Institute, told The New York Times.

The rover later transmitted back the world's first image on the far side of the moon .

WIth no direct way to communicate with the spacecraft from the moon, China put a relay satellite in orbit around the moon in May.

On Dec. 8, the spacecradt lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province and entered the moon's orbit four days later, according to Chinese state media.

The craft, which is 5 feet long and about 3.3 feet wide and tall, made its final descent from a landing orbit 9.3 miles above the moon's surface.

"Since the far side of the moon is shielded from electromagnetic interference from the Earth, it's an ideal place to research the space environment and solar bursts, and the probe can 'listen' to the deeper reaches of the cosmos," Tongjie Liu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center for the China National Space Administration, told CNN.

The U.S. Congress has banned NASA from working with China on space exploration because of national security concerns.

"A high percentage of space technology is [civilian-military] dual use," Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College told CNN. "The U.S. sees pretty much everything China does in space -- including things the U.S. has done in space -- as threatening."

But NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine praised the achievement. "Congratulations to China's Chang'e-4 team for what appears to be a successful landing on the far side of the Moon," he posted on Twitter. "This is a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment!"
China National Space Administration's robotic lander Chang'e 4 successfully lands at the Von Kármán lunar crater on the far side of the Moon.