China has embarked on an ambitious space program - surpassing the United States in orbital launches last year (primarily for satellites), and now landing their own lunar rover on the dark side of the moon, the Chang'e 4. 

The stated purpose of Beijing's robotic lander is to collect samples and identify what minerals are there. And while the Chang'e 4 is unlikely to find precious metals such as gold, silver or platinum - there may be something up there that could serve as a "lunar fuel station to the stars," as the South China Morning Post puts it; Helium-3

The primary material on the moon is helium-3, which for now is too expensive to haul back to Earth. In theory, the non-radioactive isotope could be used as fuel for the next generations of spacecraft to explore deeper into space.

Imagine driving from "NYC to LA without gas stations along the way", said Peter Diamandis, the entrepreneur who founded the XPrize to encourage private spaceships. "If you can get the fuel from space, it reduces the cost." -SCMP

What's more, if China does find anything else of value on the far side of the moon, mining it would be far easier than an asteroid because of its gravity and proximity to Earth. 

The next step, of course, would be what every fan of author Robert Heinlein has been looking forward to since they were a kid; A moon base. The United States has been debating whether to send a mission back to the moon as soon as possible, or build a lunar base that would take quite a bit longer to orchestrate. 

"The US thinks in presidential terms," said University of Notre Dame lunar expert Clive Neal. "China thinks in decades." 

China may be testing its ability for more sophisticated missions, according to Neal of Notre Dame. That poses the question of why China chose its particular landing place, at one of the moon's oldest and deepest craters.

The answer could be simple, he said. From the far side of the moon, Chinese scientists can see farther into space because Earth's radio waves can't get in the way. -SCMP

Nasa's top administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted in late November that the US would be partnering with two companies to return to the surface of the moon, "sooner than you think!"

"We're going to move towards a day where we commercialize all of low earth orbit to where NASA is one customer of many customers in a robust commercial marketplace," said Bridenstine, calling the new endeavors a "transformation" of the agency's culture. "Then we can use NASA resources to do things where there isn't yet a viable commercial market ... We can build the architecture to get to the moon with our international partners."

"The case we have to make, which is absolutely true, is that the quickest way to get to Mars is to use the moon and to use the Gateway," he added.