China's Lunar Exploration announced that the country has plans for Chang'e 4 probe to make its descent on the moon's "dark side," according to the Chinese Central Television.

Lunar Exploration will probably choose a site where landing is more challenging, said Wu Weiren, the group's chief engineer. He added that the Lunar Exploration's next plan is to send a spacecraft to the dark side of the moon, the report stated.

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A speculation of both mythical and scientific reasons, the "dark" side of the moon has never faced the planet Earth due to 'tidal locking'.

Tidal locking pertains to a phenomenon in which the Moon rotating in its axis at the same time frame it revolves around the Earth. Since the the moon's side remains the same, its dark side cannot be explored.

This occurrence has taken its course for millions of years and the Earth's gravity slows down the Moon's rotation, thus pairing it with its orbit.

Soviet probe Luna 3 was the first space probe to take a photograph of the dark side of the moon in 1959, while the astronauts from Apollo 8 were the first included in a manned mission to see the dark side of the moon with their own eyes.

The dark side has been photographed by various space probes and the most recent photograph was by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Chang'e 4's predecessor, Chang'e 3, already set its foot on the Moon last 2013. For the record, it became the first spacecraft to land safely since the Soviet probe Luna 23 made its mark last 1976.

Chang'e 4 is set to launch in 2020, the report relayed.

The spacecraft will initially orbit the moon before it deploys a rover to the lunar surface and should there be no problems, the rover will explore the 'dark side' for the first time.

NASA's interest on the dark side has been continuous for years, but they have now focused more on a manned mission to Mars.

The cost of landing on the far side of the lunar surface costs more than landing on the proximal surface.

Due to China's rapid advancement in space travels, the country also showed its interest for the moon's potential resources such as water and helium-3.

Tagsspaceprobe, moon, Moon exploration, Lunar Exploration, space exploration