(Yiciai Global) Dec. 5 -- China's moon exploration program is progressing smoothly and the nation is preparing to launch its Chang'e-4 lunar probe next year to land on the dark side of the moon.

The lunar rover was originally built as a backup to Chang'e-3, but following the success of its predecessor's mission, Chang'e-4's mission changed to meet new scientific goals. Its successful campaign would mark the first time humans have explored the far side of the moon.

China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission reported the launch, quoting the official in charge of China National Space Administration's lunar probe and space engineering center as saying at 7th International Conference on Aerospace Technology and Innovation and the 2017 International Academy of Astronautics' Chinese academician day, both recently held in Shanghai.

Chang'e-5, whose mission is to collect samples from the surface of the moon and return to earth, will be launched as early as next year. If successful, the expedition will mark the completion of China's three-step lunar exploration program.

The first phase of the plan was to survey the moon's surface from orbit, the second was to land on and explore the lunar surface and the final step is to collect samples and bring them back to earth.

Once Chang'e-5's mission is complete, China will probe the moon's polar regions. It plans to carry out three missions to study the geological structure and mineral composition of the lunar South Pole and conduct another sample collection and return mission.

China is already studying the possibility of a lunar research station, investigating the possibility of setting up infrastructure on the moon for long-term energy supplies and autonomous operations, and carrying out robot-based scientific research through technical experiments.