Chang'e 4 Lunar Exploration Mission: Making history's first soft landing on far side of the Moon

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China's Chang'e 4 Lunar Probe is headed to the Moon. A lander and rover will explore the far side of the Moon, a side not visible from Earth. CGTN's Wu Lei was at the launch center and brings us more.

WU LEI XICHANG SATELLITE LAUNCH CENTER "People have been admiring the moon for thousands of years, but the mysteries there are about to get a lot closer. Blasting off from Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center, China's Chang'e 4 lunar probe could be the first ever to soft-land on the far side of the moon."

The moon's far side, or dark side, is never visible from Earth due to a phenomenon called tidal locking. To explore this uncharted area, the first key challenge was to guarantee communication with controllers on Earth.

YU GUOBIN, SPOKESMAN CHANG'E 4 LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSION "On the Moon's far side, data transmission depends on satellite relay, which has high risks."

In addition to carrying out three scientific pilot projects developed by three Chinese universities, the whole mission has four major scientific payloads, which were jointly developed by scientists from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and China.

YU GUOBIN, SPOKESMAN CHANG'E 4 LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSION "The focus is to observe the topography of the Moon's far side. The electromagnetic environment of Moon's far side is clean, so low frequency astronomical observations can be achieved."

Over the next few weeks, Chang'e 4's journey through space will bring it to the Aitken Basin in the lunar south pole region. It's expected to touch down there sometime in January. WL, CGTN, at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.