China unveils rover to explore the surface of Mars
Print Edition
CHINA has released the first images of a rover it plans to send to Mars in 2020 to explore the planet’s surface.
In 2003 China became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
In 2013 it completed the first lunar “soft landing” since 1976 with its Chang’e-3 craft and its Jade Rabbit rover.
China’s latest manned space mission is due in October and is aiming for a manned moon landing by 2036.
Xinhua news agency said the Mars rover would have six wheels and be powered by four solar panels, two more than the rover China shot to the moon and, at 200 kilograms, 60kg heavier.
“The challenges we face are unprecedented,” Zhang Rongqiao, chief architect of the Mars mission, told Xinhua.
The probe would carry 13 payloads including a remote sensing camera and a ground penetrating radar, on what is expected to be a three-month exploratory mission blasting off in July or August 2020, it added.
“The lander will separate from the orbiter at the end of a journey of around seven months and touch down in a low latitude area in the northern hemisphere of Mars where the rover will explore the surface,” it said.
The Beijing News added that the northern hemisphere was not as good a place to utilize solar power as the planet’s equatorial region, but said the geographic conditions were better.
Advancing China’s space program is a priority for Beijing, with President Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as a space power.
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