China to launch probe to Mars in July

CNSA - Tianwen-1 (天問-1) Mission to Mars logo.

May 25, 2020

The Chinese mission, dubbed “Tianwen”, must place a probe in Martian orbit, make it land on the red planet and control a robot on its surface.

China plans to launch a probe and a small remote-controlled robot to Mars in July, its first mission to the Red Planet, the project promoter announced. The country is investing billions of euros in its space program: it launches satellites, plans to send men to the Moon, and has just launched in May a new spacecraft.

Image above: The planet Mars seen from the Hubble space telescope in 2016. Image Credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble.

"Our goal was to send the probe to Mars sometime in 2020," said the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). "This major project is progressing as planned and we are targeting a launch in July," she said in a statement on Sunday. It would take seven months to cover the distance from Earth to Mars and the Chinese probe will not reach its destination before 2021. The distance is constantly changing but is at least 55 million km.

Called "Tianwen" ("Questions in heaven"), the Chinese mission has three objectives: to place a probe in Martian orbit, to make it land on the red planet, then to remote-control a robot on the surface to conduct analyzes.

Several countries vying

China has already carried out a similar operation on the Moon, where it deposited in 2013 a small remote-controlled "rover" with wheels (baptized "Jade rabbit"), then its successor in January 2019 (on the hidden side of the star lunar, a world first).

Tianwen-1 (天問-1) Mars lander. Image Credit: CNSA

The Asian country is not alone in the niche of Martian missions. The United States, which has already sent four exploratory vehicles to Mars, is due to launch its fifth (called “Perseverance”) between June and August. It should arrive around February 2021. The United Arab Emirates will launch on July 15 the first Arab probe in the direction of the red planet, from Japan.

However, the Russian-European ExoMars mission, victim of technical difficulties aggravated by the Covid-19 epidemic and which hoped to launch a robot towards Mars this summer, has been postponed to 2022.

Related articles:

Tianwen-1 will be China’s first Mars mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/04/tianwen-1-will-be-chinas-first-mars.html

China unveils rover that it will send to Mars
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2016/08/china-unveils-rover-that-it-will-send.html

For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), visit: http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html

For more information about China National Space Administration (CNSA), visit: http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: AFP/CASC/CNSA/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

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