China plans to land a rover vehicle on Mars in 2020 and bring back soil samples from the planet a decade later, with the main goal of check for life, a top scientist with the country’s lunar probe mission has announced.
The probe will release both an orbiter and a landing rover, which will explore the planet jointly, said Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist with the Chang’e lunar mission and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The main goals of the mission will be to check for life, both current and previous, he said, and to assess the planet’s environment.
Yes! But what freaky, freaky things may they discover?
At its closest point, which happens every 26 months, Mars is about 60 million kilometers from Earth. The journey time for a probe is about 10 months.
“The mission will also mark the beginning of China’s deeper voyages into outer space,” Ouyang continued, "Chinese scientists will also begin probing the activities of the sun to determine its influence on the near-Earth space atmosphere."
Meanwhile, China is making preparations for the 2017 launch of its lunar probe Chang’e-5.
Lat year China's Yutu - or Jade Rabbit - rover went to explore the moon, suffered a breakdown and was thought to be lost, sent out a heartbreaking goodbye message which was dramatically read out by Patrick Stewart, before miraculously coming back to life.
We love that plucky little rabbit...
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