China launches a spacecraft to the far side of the Moon

The exploration spacecraft is to touch down on the moon in early January.\n

On December 8, Chang’e-4 spacecraft was launched from the Chinese launch site in Sichuan province, which will deliver a self-propelled rover to the far side of the moon.

The Nature magazine writes that the rover will carry out a number of experiments, which, in particular, will enable to establish a theoretical possibility to grow plants on the Moon. Detectors will also collect data on radio frequency space radiation.

The landing site is on the far side of the Moon in the Von Karman crater with the 186 km diameter. The Von Karman is part of the South Pole — Aitken basin, one of the largest craters in the Solar System. -

The University of Kiel (Germany) took part in the spaceship launch. Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber, a physicist who carries out a radiation-detection experiment on the lander, believes that the launch went off «flawlessly».

The approximate landing date of the spacecraft is early next month.