Topic
- NPC deputy and Tianwen-1 spacecraft chief designer Sun Zezhou says key technologies needed for Tianwen-3 mission are ‘in place’
- The cost of the US Mars Sample Return programme has risen from an initial US$4 billion and will probably exceed US$10 billion
The colour-coded maps will add to our knowledge of the red planet and improve planning for future missions, says Chinese space agency.
China still waiting for signal from Zhurong, which was supposed to power on after sleeping through red planet’s sandstorm season.
The head of the country’s biggest space contractor says the rocket will be able to carry a lunar orbiter and lander for a three-person mission.
The US has long accused China of stealing space technology, but Artemis programme’s VIPER appears to borrow from Chinese rover Zhu Rong, which features caterpillar-inspired suspension system.
Using a ground-penetrating radar on the Zhu Rong rover, scientists found a layer of rocks likely to be sediment from a catastrophic flood 3 billion years ago.
China’s space agency marks completion of Tianwen-1 mission with new photos of red planet volcano and polar cap.
China’s timeline is two years ahead of a US-European planned Mars mission to return samples to Earth for laboratory testing, according to Sun Zezhou.
Current geological age has been seen as a time when the planet was cold and dry, but scientists say their analysis of data from the rover suggests a more active surface hydrosphere in this period.
Researchers studying Zhu Rong data point to valuable inputs on ‘habitability evolution of Mars’.
Space agency publishes videos of its spacecraft against backdrop of polar caps made from a mixture of frozen carbon dioxide and water.
Images show the ice caps on the north pole of the red planet as one of the country’s most ambitious space missions continues.
China has big ambitions relating to the moon and Mars projects for 2022 and it has six launches planned to expand the Tiangong space station.
While it may not be trendy now to be a panda-hugger, not many countries are willing to blindly trust the uncertain leadership of the United States either. China has to work on a much better coordinated and proactive PR strategy to change perceptions.
Legendary character had the face of man, body of a beast and rode on two dragons.
The Tianwen-1 Mars mission will make China the third country to land on the red planet after the US and Soviet Union
The mission, on track for a July launch despite the Covid-19 pandemic, is named Heavenly Questions after the classical Chinese poem Tianwen
Some of China’s space ambitions depend on a rocket that previously failed to launch