Chang'e 6 scheduled for lunar landing next year

The Chang'e 6 mission, China's next robotic expedition to the moon, has been scheduled to land on the moon next year, tasked with bringing back samples from the little-known far side, according to the China National Space Administration.

So far, the Chang'e 6 project has progressed smoothly and according to plan, the administration said in a news release on Friday.

To facilitate communications between the Chang'e 6 probe and Earth, a new relay satellite named Queqiao 2 is set to be deployed in lunar orbit in the first half of 2024, it noted.