China's space administration says its planning to become the first to land a lunar probe on the far side of the moon.

A Chinese lunar probe scientist has told a forum the mission will be carried out before 2020.

The far side of the moon, or "dark side of the moon", is never visible on Earth because of gravitational forces.

Chinese space authorities say they hope to get a better sense of the geological conditions in that area.

China became the third country to soft land a spacecraft on lunar soil two years ago, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

A Chinese probe is set to be launched in 2017 which is designed to return samples from the lunar surface.