China has privately funded a mission to the moon scheduled to blast off Thursday, October 23. It is slated to hitch a ride on a Chinese Long March rocket to reach the moon.

The mission is known as 4M. The project was developed by Luxembourg-based company, LuxSpace. This company decided to attach its mission to a Chinese moon flyby called Chang'e 5-T1.

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The mission aims to test their technology for future lunar sample-return missions.

If all goes as planned, Chang'e will go around the moon and then head back to Earth. It will also send test capsules hurtling toward the Earth on October 31.

The main purpose of the project is to test the technology to retrieve moon dirt and rocks and return them to Earth. This is in line with China's Chang'e 5 mission, which will blast-off in 2017.

The 4M payload will be attached to the Long March's upper stage. It only weighs 31 pounds and will also look to perform a close lunar flyby, after which it will be return to Earth.

During its space journey, 4M will broadcast signals the whole time. LuxSpace hopes amateur radio operators around the world will listen in on what they'll be broadcasting.

Herbert Moser, LuxSpace's systems engineer, said their main objective is to make the public more interested in space exploration and space in general.

They're also trying to promote their space missions in general, which will be by microsatellites.

He said the data collected by radio amateurs could help develop a crowd-based approach to tracking and navigating spacecraft.

Moser finally said all of this will be done in a cost-efficient way, with costs not exceeding six figures for the whole mission.

Tagsmoon, Chinese Long March, Chang'e 5-T1, LuxSpace, 4M