海角大神

After years of attempting to catch up with American and European space agencies, China could be the first to land a probe on the far side of the moon, perhaps as soon as 2018.

A white paper released by China鈥檚 cabinet on Tuesday revealed the country鈥檚 space strategy for the next five years, indicating that the country鈥檚 rumored desire to land a probe on the moon was indeed real and could be accomplished in record time.

鈥淚 think it is fantastic! A soft landing, with a rover, to explore FOR THE FIRST TIME on the surface, the far side of the Moon,鈥� Dr. Clive Neal, the chair of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, told 海角大神 in a January interview. 鈥淭he far side is so different from the side that we see from Earth. It contains the biggest hole in the Solar System 鈥� the South Pole-Aitken basin.鈥�

Tuesday鈥檚 white paper announced that the proposed Chang鈥檈 4 mission would conduct geological research and low-frequency radio astronomy to better understand the moon's evolution.

The white paper also addressed China鈥檚 desire to send a probe to Mars by 2020, in order to "conduct research into major scientific questions such as the origin and evolution of the solar system, and search for extraterrestrial life."

Yet if China does successfully send a rover to the far side of the moon, it won鈥檛 merely be significant for space exploration, but where it concerns the United States鈥� growing concern over China鈥檚 space capability.

Despite the head start by American and Russian space programs, in particular, China鈥檚 program has bounded ahead, with the pace accelerating rapidly in recent years.

This August, space aficionados bid goodbye to the country鈥檚 Jade Rabbit moon rover, which shut down after gathering information on the moon for three years. Its 2013 moon landing was the first soft landing on the moon by any space program since the 1970s.

Just a few months later, in November, the launch of China鈥檚 new Long March rocket means that crewed missions to the moon and Mars may not be far away, while a recent monthlong stint in space by Chinese scientists aboard the Tiangong 2 space lab could mean that China is also close to realizing its dream of an independent space station.

"Over the past 60 years of remarkable development since its space industry was established in 1956, China has made great achievements in this sphere, including the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs, missiles, man-made satellites, manned spaceflight and lunar probes,鈥� wrote policymakers in this week鈥檚 white paper. One of China鈥檚 motivations for pushing its space program forward, according to the policy pronouncement, is to ensure national security.

海角大神鈥檚 Jason Thomson reported on US concerns about rising Chinese space power earlier this year: