China unveils designs of Mars probe, rover to be launched in 2020
Beijing, Aug 24: China has unveiled the designs of its Mars probe and rover to be launched in 2020 as it looks to catch up with India, US, Russia and EU to reach the red planet.
China plans to send a spacecraft to orbit Mars, land and deploy a rover in July or August 2020, official media here quoted Zhang Rongqiao, chief architect of the Mars mission as saying.
"The challenges we face are unprecedented," Ye Peijian, one of Chinas leading aerospace experts and a consultant to the programme, said.
The 2020 mission will be launched on a Long March-5 carrier rocket, the work horse for Chinas space missions.
It will be launched from the Wenchang space centre in south Chinas Hainan province.
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.
Images
displayed
at
yesterdays
press
conference
showed
a
device
with
six
wheels,
powered
by
four
solar
panels,
two
more
than
the
rover
sent
to
the
moon.
Weighing around 200 kgs, it is designed to operate for three Martian months, Sun Zezhou, chief designer of the probe, was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.
The probe, for its part, will carry 13 payloads including a remote sensing camera and a ground penetrating radar which could be used to study the soil, environment, and atmosphere of Mars, as well as the planets physical fields, the distribution of water and ice, and its inner structure.
A
public
competition
for
the
name
and
the
logo
of
the
2020
mission
was
also
launched
yesterday.
Though
China
space
programme
has
achieved
several
milestones
like
landing
a
rover
on
the
Moon,
successful
manned
space
missions
as
well
as
building
a
space
station
which
is
currently
underway,
Mars
alluded
it.
Mangalyaan Mars mission accomplished with a low budget of USD 73 million caught the attention and imagination of Chinese as India reached the red plant well ahead of China.
India
became
the
fourth
country
after
US,
Russia
and
EU
to
successfully
send
probes
to
Mars.
Chinas
attempts
to
send
an
exploratory
probe
called
Yinghuo-1,
in
a
Russian
spacecraft
in
2011
failed
as
shortly
after
the
launch
it
was
declared
lost
and
later
burnt
during
re-entry.
This is the first time China revived its Mars mission since then.
Zhang told people.cn the Mars programme will study the planets climate, surface, ionosphere, water ice distribution, internal structure, topography and physical field.
Scientists will have to design a rover that can make its own decisions because the distance between Earth and Mars will cause delays in data transmission, Zhang said.
A favourable alignment of Earth and Mars occurs for only a few weeks every 26 months, and 2020 offers that rare opportunity, National Space Administration director Xu Dazhe said.
PTI