China has begun preparations for a new lunar mission in 2018. It has planned to send a probe to the dark side of the moon not explored by humans so far. The far side of the moon is never visible to Earth because of gravitational forces and has never been explored.

The Chang’e-4 probe will be the first mission in human history to embark on this expedition. China already boasts mature science and technology for sending a probe to the far side of the moon, and is open to cooperation with international society.

China’s high-profile space programme attracted rare criticism from the country’s official media after NASA’s announcement of existence of flowing water on Mars last year. Mangalyaan also stole a march over China in 2015, making India the first Asian country to orbit the red planet.

China has an advanced space programme with a first soft-landing on the moon with Chang’e-3 in December 2013, which is still sending messages back to Earth. Chang’e-4 is very similar to Chang’e-3 in structure but can handle more payload. It will be used to study the geological conditions of the dark side of the moon. China sent a letter of intent of cooperation to foreign countries in early 2015.

The country also plans to launch its Chang’e-5 lunar probe to finish the last chapter in China’s three-step (orbiting, landing and return) moon exploration programme. The Chang’e-5 lunar probe is now being developed by scientists. By 2022, China also plans set up its own space station rival to Russia’s space station Mir that is jointly operated with the U.S.