The satellite is part of efforts to include more renewable materials in space exploration and also minimise the environmental impact at the end of its life

Last month, China became the first country in the world to bring rock samples from the far side of the moon back to Earth

This is China’s second successful mission on the far side of the moon, a region no other country has reached

Chinese military researchers have been studying the role of Starlink satellites in the Ukraine war and warned about its risks to Beijing, while calling for the creation of a similar network

China already has ambitious plans for long-term lunar habitation, starting with plans to land its first taikonauts on the Moon to using 3D printing technology to construct buildings on its surface

The launch marks a second straight win for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency after its lunar lander, SLIM, achieved a "pinpoint" touchdown last month

Japan's most significant defence build-up since the Second World War has seen a wave of new investment in its domestic aerospace sector

US commander General Chance Saltzman said a direct line of communication between the Space Force and China could de-escalate tensions

The Indian Space Research Organisation said the craft had completed its mission and had now been put to ‘sleep'

The Indian mission was accomplished with a budget of about 6.15 billion rupees ($75 million), less than the cost to produce the 2013 Hollywood space thriller "Gravity”

The country's lunar spacecraft made a soft landing on the lunar South Pole, days after a similar Russian lander, Luna-25, crashed

China will also launch three astronauts to its now fully operational space station on Tuesday, one of whom will be its first ever civilian to go to space