China Sets To Launch Its Own Mars Probe In 2020

With its successful Moon landing, the space agency of China has plans to launch a Mars probe next year, as reported by one of the well-known space scientists of the country.

The announcement was made prior to the meeting of the Political Consultative Conference of the Chinese People. This is a governmental advisory group consists of representatives from the Chinese political spectrum.

Chinese lunar exploration program’s chief designer, Wu Weiren, said in an interview with CCTV+ of China Global Television Network:

In 1970, China successfully carried out the launching of its satellite. Back then, the country was behind Russia and the U.S. in the space race, but it has quickly caught up.

Chang’e 1, the very first Chinese lunar orbiter, launched in 2007. Most recently, Chang’e 4 successfully landed on the far side of the Moon.

The Chang’e 5, whose mission is to collect samples from the Moon, is set to launch at the end of this year.

The Mars mission of China will join a list of currently operating or soon to be operated missions of European Space Agency and NASA. By 2030, the space agency of China will launch some deep-space missions which include one to Jupiter.

This unnamed mission would not be the first attempt of China at exploring the Red Planet. Back in 2011, the CNSA (China National Space Administration) tried to launch Yinghuo-1, an orbiter, to Mars. However, the craft, which was attached to the Phobos-Grunt mission of Russia, did not succeed in leaving Earth’s orbit.

We’ll continue to inform you on this mission if there is an update on its design and goals.