Chang'e 4 was launched atop a Long March 3B rocket in December at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province in the country's fourth lunar exploration and the world's first expedition to the moon's far side. The robotic probe made a soft landing there on Jan 3 and then released Yutu 2, the world's seventh rover on the moon and also the first on the far side, to roam and survey the landing site in the South Pole — Aitken basin, the largest and deepest known basin in the solar system.

 

China announced on January 11^th, 2019 that the Chang'e 4 mission, which conducted mankind's first surface observation of the moon's far side, “a complete success”. Chinese President Xi Jinping met representatives of space scientists and engineers who participated in the research and development of the Chang'e-4 mission at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Feb 20, 2019. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, noted that there is no end for space exploration. Xi called on science and technology workers and space engineers in China to ride on the wave of the Chang'e-4 mission to achieve the general goal of China's lunar project, make more efforts to push forward international aerospace cause and bring more Chinese wisdom, solutions and force to the peaceful use of space and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

 

 After undertaking the task of the Chang'e 3 mission, Professor Chen Ximeng and Professor Shao Jianxiong of Lanzhou University, led their teams to take on the more challenging scientific researches and engineering tasks of the Chang'e 4 mission. The research team made outstanding contributions to the success of the Chang'e 4 mission.

 

 

[Photo provided by China National Space Administration]