While China’s Chang’e 3 landing and rover mission was, in the main, successful, albeit that the Yutu rover failed after only a few weeks, nevertheless, China has decided to not repeat the mission. Instead, China has announced to the United Nations that it will use the Chang’e 3’s back up lander and rover to mount an unmanned landing and rover mission to the far side of the Moon.
To allow the system to be controlled and communicated with, a relay satellite is being developed that will be placed at the Earth-Moon Lagrangian L2 position on the far side of the Moon.
The landing and rover mission, which will presumably be called Chang’e 4 or 6, is scheduled to take place after the relay satellite is in place. It will be the first spacecraft to actually land on the lunar far side.
The lunar far side landing mission is set to be launched by 2020 with the relay satellite launch about one year before that. China is also planning a sample return mission dubbed Chang’e 5, this time to the Earth facing part of the Moon, which will take place in 2017.
