Nasa: plans to land on the dark side of the Moon for the first time

Nasa has announced plans to land on the dark side of the Moon.

It would be the first time that Nasa has managed to land on the far side of the Moon and will be part of their Artemis program, a mission to get people back onto the lunar surface.

the plan of the mission will be to land scientific instruments on the Moon's surface to study the lay of the land there.

Joel Kearns who is part of the team heading the mission to the dark side of the moon said that these missions should pave the way to having astronauts return to the Moon as soon as possible.

What is the dark side of the Moon?

There's a part of the moon that we don't see from Earth as the moon always keeps the same side facing towards us.

That side isn't actually always 'dark' but because not much is known about it, it's seen as a bit mysterious and that's why the name 'dark' is given.

But a better name that is often used is the 'far side' of the moon.

What will the mission do?

The surface of the Moon is covered in craters such as this big one called Copernicus

The mission selected will explore a part of the Moon known as Schrödinger's Crater.

A crater is a bowl-shaped hole usually made after a meteorite.

The Farside Seismic Suite and it will measure the seismic activity on the far side of the Moon.

Seismic activity is the measure of vibrations in the surface and is used to work out how often and how big an earthquake is when it happens.

Other instruments are part of the Lunar Interior Temperature and Materials Suite that will look at the Moon's underground temperature and heat flow.

Not the first, this time

A view of the Earth as seen from the orbit of the Moon

Although this is Nasa's first mission to the far side of the Moon, Nasa isn't the first space agency to go.

In 2019 China's Chang'e-4 mission landed a probe there.

It's hoped that this mission, if completed successfully by Nasa, will allow for astronauts to return to the Moon's surface.