China’s programme to launch a mission to Mars in 2020 is ‘well underway’ according to its top planner.
As the country moves forward with its ambitious space programme, a probe that will will carry 13 types of payload is being developed.
The Communist regime hopes to have both six rovers on the surface of the red planet, as well as seven vehicles in orbit, collecting vital data.
This could one day lead to both a ‘robotic and human settlement’ on the red planet, according to the project’s leader.
China’s programme to launch a mission to Mars in 2020 is ‘well underway’ according to its top planner.As the country moves forward with its ambitious space programme, a probe that will will carry 13 types of payload, including six rovers, are being developed (artist’s impression)
Zhang Rongqiao, the mission’s chief architect, was speaking at the Beijing International Forum on Lunar and Deep-space Exploration, which began Wednesday.
‘Since Mars is close to Earth and shares relatively similar characteristics, it has become the priority target in deep space exploration,’ he said, according to reports in China Daily.
‘Not only might Mars serve for future robotic or human settlement, studying its evolution can help us answer some of the key questions in cosmology that can have a profound impact on our life.’
Nasa has confirmed that liquid water existed on Mars, ‘so is Mars the past or the future of Earth?, he added.
‘Studying how Mars became a mostly barren, arid planet can help with our own environmental protection effort on Earth?’.
The Long March-5 carrier rocket will blast off from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in the tropical island province of Hainan in July or August 2020.
Data collected by probes in orbit will include temperature, atmospheric conditions, electromagnetic fields and details of the landscape of the planet’s surface.
Once the probe is in orbit around Mars after a seven-month journey, a lander will separate from it and touch down in the red planet’s northern hemisphere.
The 440 lb (200 kg) lander will then deploy rovers to explore the surface.
This will be used to direct landing craft, which will gather more information from soil and rock samples.
Speaking to the official Xinhua news Mr Zhang added : ‘The Mars exploration programme is well underway.
‘The payloads will be used to collect data on the environment, morphology, surface structure and atmosphere of Mars.’
Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a symbol of its rise and of the Communist Party’s success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
The Communist regime hopes to have both autonomous vehicles on the surface of the red planet, as well as vehicles in orbit, collecting vital data
Data collected by probes in orbit will include temperature, atmospheric conditions, electromagnetic fields and details of the landscape of the planet’s surface. This will be used to direct landing craft, which will gather more information from soil and rock samples
Russia, India, the US and the European Space Agency have probes orbiting Mars.
But only the US has successfully landed a rover and carried out surface missions.
Around 2020, Nasa, the ESA and the United Arab Emirates will also launch more Mars probes.
In July, China successfully launched the Long March-4B, its first X-ray space telescope to study black holes, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts.
And in April the country’s first cargo spacecraft completed its docking with an orbiting space lab, a key development in China’s goal of having its own crewed space station by 2022.
The Long March-5 carrier rocket will blast off from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in the tropical island province of Hainan in July or August 2020. A Long March-5 rocket blasts off from Wenchang in November 2016
Before 2020, China will launch an unmanned landing mission to the moon named Chang’e 4, as well as a moon sample retrieval mission named Chang’e 5.
In the following years, China will explore asteroids and smaller bodies to understand the solar system’s origin and formation, and search for information on possible extraterrestrial life.
China also plans to launch probes to Jupiter in 2036 and Uranus in 2046, Zhang said.
However, these planets are so far away from the sun that light is too weak to power solar-powered probes.
Chemical propulsion systems face long-term storage issues and an even harsher environment in space, he added.