China To Explore Moon’s North And South Pole In 2017

China is gearing up to send its lunar probe, called Chang'e 5, to the Moon where it will collect samples and subsequently reach back the Earth in the second half of 2017. The upcoming lunar mission will reportedly see explorations of the Moon's north and south poles.

The Chang'e 5 lunar probe will the first of its kind by China to land on the surface of Earth's natural satellite. According to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND), the probe will mark the third phase of China's lunar exploration mission. The first phase of China's mission to Moon started with the launch of the Chang'e 1 satellite into the orbit of the moon in 2007. Consequently, a second phase followed which saw a probe on the surface of the Moon in 2013.

The lunar probe by China is going to be a significant one because the shadowed craters of the Moon supposedly contain water ice caused by comet bombardment, and the water not only gives the satellite a habitable angle, but it can also be refined into oxygen and hydrogen. The lunar surface, could therefore, be turned to a pit stop as a refueling point for spacecraft traveling to outer space, such as for the Mars mission. However, at this point it is not known if the Chang'e 5 is going to return with samples of lunar ice.

Incidentally, in 2003 China became the third country in the world to launch a human to space, after Russia and the US as per reports. China is a supporter of space exploration, and plans were revealed in Beijing recently to launch a Mars rover sometime in 2020. Apart from these developments, the country also launched the next generation of carrier rockets, namely Long March 5 and 7, along with new space labs and satellites in 2016.