Onwards to Mars for China’s deep space explorers after Chang’e 4 moon mission success
- Buoyed by a world first, Chinese scientists are looking to the red planet to push frontiers
A successful moon landing has revived China’s interest in sending spacecraft to Mars, six years after its failed mission to the red planet.
Officials from the China National Space Administration said on Monday that China would send a probe to Mars around 2020 and a returnable craft to the moon by the end of this year.
Administration deputy director Wu Yanhua said the success of Chang’e 4’s mission to the far side of the moon marked a new stage for the country’s deep space exploration and outside interest was welcome in the programme.
“We welcome international collaboration in developing devices aboard the spacecraft as well as domestic and foreign investment,” Wu said.
A satellite will be sent to orbit Mars around 2020 and a rover will make a soft landing there based on data collected by the satellite, according to space officials.
Other countries are also interested in the red planet, with Nasa in the United States, the European Space Agency, Roscosmos of Russia, and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency planning to explore Mars in the coming decade. Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it wants to create a city on the planet.
China’s first attempt to reach Mars failed in 2012, when Russia’s Phobos-Grunt spacecraft carrying China’s Yinghuo 1 probe failed to get beyond Earth’s orbit and eventually broke up over the Pacific Ocean.