China will launch its new lunar probe, Chang E-5, at the end of November, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) says.
This mission, which will be the first to collect samples from the Moon's surface automatically and the first that will return to Earth, will take place four years after the deployment of China's last mission to the Moon and a little more than a year after the cessation of operations of the robotic Moon rover, which was part of that mission.
Chang E-5 will be made up of four modules (an orbiter, a returner, an ascender and a lander) and weigh 8.2 tonnes.
It will take off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre, located in the southern Hainan province, aboard the heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-5.
Chang E-5 is China's fourth moon mission and will have three phases: an orbit around the Moon, around 380,000 kilometres from Earth, landing on the Moon's surface and finally, the return to Earth.
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The lander and ascender modules will land on the surface of the Moon while the orbiter and the returner modules will orbit the Moon.
After collecting samples, the lander will deposit them in the ascender, which will then dock with the other two modules and transfer the samples to the returner, which will begin the journey back to Earth.
The development of all the modules is going according to plan, which has entered the end of its flight model phase, the CASC said.
China is also planning another probe to the far side of the Moon by 2018.
