China’s first mission to Mars will be hugely ambitious and be a chance to ‘outshine India’, says Beijing’s chief space scientist
The People’s Daily quotes chief Beijing scientist, saying Indians won race to put satellite in orbit around Red Planet, but putting rover on Mars will outdo their efforts
China’s first mission to Mars scheduled for 2020 will be one the most ambitious ever attempted and more complex than other maiden flights to the Red Planet carried out by other nations, according to a Chinese space scientist.
Other countries only carried out fly-bys on their first mission to Mars, but China will put a lander and rover on its surface, according to Yuan Minhui, the director of the Beijing Institute of Space Science and Technology Information.
READ MORE: China unveils first Mars rover and exploration system for red planet
Plans for the mission are now being drafted by the authorities, Yuan was quoted as saying by the People’s Daily.
The lander will carry a robotic rover that will “patrol” the Martian terrain Yuan said.
Rocket scientist Long Lehao was quoted as saying in the report that China was defeated by India two years ago in the race to put a satellite in orbit around Mars.
Long said the Chinese mission would use a much larger spacecraft with more challenging goals to outshine the Indians.