China's space administration says the Chang-e 5, expected to be launched in 2017, will create four records in Chinese Space Exploration history and Chang'e-4, a backup probe for Chang'e-3, will land on the far side of the moon.

The second session of International Forum of Moon and Deep Space Exploration opened Tuesday in Beijing.

Li Chunlai, one of the main designers of the lunar probe’s ground application system, said during the forum that China plans to launch its Chang'e-5 lunar probe around 2017 to finish the last chapter in China's three-step (orbiting, landing and returning) moon exploration program.

Chang'e-5 will set four records in the history of Chinese Space Exploration: it will automatically collect sampling on the surface of moon; it will take off from the moon without a launch site; it will realize unmanned docking 400,000 kilometers above the lunar surface and return to earth with a high speed close to second cosmic velocity.

Chang'e-5 will also have a new launch site and launch rockets, said Li.

Zou Yongliao from the moon exploration department under the Chinese Academy of Sciences told the reporter that  government agencies have directed experts to assess the plan over the past 12 months. "China will be the first to complete the task if it is successful," he said.

The far side of the moon, or "dark side of the moon" as it is more commonly called, is never visible to Earth because of gravitational forces. According to Zou, the far side of the moon has a clean electromagnetic environment, which provides an ideal field for low frequency radio study. "If we can place a frequency spectrograph on the far side, we can fill a void," he said.