China to collect samples from the moon in Chang’e-5 mission by the end of 2019
FirstpostThe agency is aiming to get samples from the moon this year & send a probe to Mars by 2020. China will launch a probe to collect samples from the moon around the end of this year, a space official said on Monday, weeks after Beijing hailed the successful touch down on the far side of the moon. The Chang’e-4 lunar probe landed on 3 January and transmitted the first-ever “close range” image of the far side of the moon. China’s National Space Administration applauded the event as a first that “lifted the mysterious veil” of the far side of the moon and claimed it as a major achievement for the country’s ambitious space programme. The Chang’e-5 mission, set to collect samples from the near side of the moon, will be carried out at the end of the year, while another probe will be sent to Mars by 2020, Wu Yanhua, deputy head of the space administration, told a briefing, according to an official online transcript.