China is launching a mission to Mars this summer. So is the US
- Chinese Tianwen-1 will lift off in July or August, reaching the red planet by February where its rover will explore the surface
- Nasa plans to send Perseverance around the same time – when Earth is closest – and it will collect samples to be brought back
China’s first mission to Mars is expected to be launched around the same time as the United States sends its robotic rover to the red planet this summer.
The Tianwen-1 spacecraft will take off on a Long March 5 rocket in July or August and is expected to reach Mars in February, Bao Weimin, head of the Science and Technology Committee of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the space programme’s contractor, told state broadcaster CCTV. A ground rover would then be released to explore the Martian surface.
It coincides with the US space agency’s fifth rover mission to Mars. Nasa plans to launch its Perseverance rover on July 17, and land on the red planet on February 18.
The two missions will be launched when Earth and Mars are at their closest point, so the spacecraft can make the journey in the fastest and most fuel-efficient way – this optimal positioning happens every 26 months.
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China’s Tianwen-1 probe – named after an ancient Chinese poem, “Heavenly Questions” – has an orbiter to fly around the planet, and a lander that will release a rover to look for water and ice and explore the atmosphere and soil. The US Perseverance, meanwhile, will be looking for signs of life, and will collect surface samples to be brought back to Earth by a future mission.
The Chinese rover is designed to operate for 90 Mars days, or about three Earth months, while the Perseverance will stay for a duration of one Mars year, or 687 Earth days.