NEW DELHI – After already landing a rover on the moon in the past, Chinastill has its eyes set on the lunar body. In December 2016, China announcedits plans to launch a lunar probe in 2018 to achieve the world’s first softlanding on the far side of the moon to showcase its ambitious spaceprogramme.

Now, the time has come for the country to take their lunar dreams a stepfurther with the Chang’e 4 project.

This is a move that has not been made by anyone or any nation before andwith this mission, China will outdo the historical achievements of the USand the USSR.

This will be the fourth mission in a series named after the Chinese moongoddess.

“The Chinese are pushing back the frontier with such a technicallychallenging mission,” Brian Harvey, space analyst and author of China inSpace: The Great Leap Forward, told The Guardian.

According to news.com.au, June 2018 will witness the lift off of the firstcomponent of Chang’e 4 — a relay satellite. The satellite will be stationedsome 60,000 km behind the moon and will provide a communications linkbetween Earth and the lunar far side.

Once this link is established, it will allow China to send the second partof the mission: a lander to the far side’s surface.

In 2013 Chang’e 3, deploying the Jade Rabbit rover, made headlines aroundthe world for the first soft landing on the moon since 1976.