China on track for first Mars Mission in 2020

5 Jun 2019

China on track for first Mars Mission in 2020

China on track for first Mars Mission in 2020On  29th May 2019, China’s NSSC (National Space Science Centre) announced that the very first Chinese Mars mission, scheduled for mid-2020, was well on track.

The mission consists of an Orbiter (that will go around Mars), a Rover (that will land on Mars) and a total of 13 scientific payloads (a payload is what a space rocket carries – usually either people or scientific instruments).

The orbiter will carry many instruments – high-resolution and medium resolution cameras, a radar to analyse the surface, a spectrometer to analyse minerals, a particle analyser and a magnetometer to study magnetic fields.

The AAPT (Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology) has successfully tested the main thrust engine (an engine that works against gravity to ensure there is no crash landing).

Successful Mars space missions so far –

Mars missions have been dominated by the USA's NASA. Till 2010, other missions included those by Russia and Europe.
 	India proudly joined their company in November 2013 and China is the latest Asian country hoping to add their name to this hallowed list in 2020.

Featured Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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On 29th May 2019, China’s NSSC (National Space Science Centre) announced that the very first Chinese Mars mission, scheduled for mid-2020, was well on track. […]

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