An Earth-Mars trip takes about seven months, so the Chinese probe will not reach its destination before 2021.
By:
AFP
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China announced Wednesday, July 1, that it will send a probe and a small remote-controlled robot to Mars later this month, its first mission on the red planet.
The country spends billions of dollars on its space program, which includes launching satellites, sending a manned mission to the Moon, and launching a new spacecraft in mid-May.
“We will choose an appropriate date during the period between July 20 and 25 for the launch to Mars of the Tianwen-1 probe,” announced the Wenchang (South China) space launch center.
“We wish the mission full success in advance!” Said the statement on the WeChat social network.
An Earth-Mars trip takes about seven months, so the Chinese probe will not reach its destination before 2021.
The distance is constantly changing, but it is at least 55 million kilometers.
The mission, named Tianwen (Questions to Heaven), has three objectives: to place a probe in Martian orbit, to land it on the surface of the red planet, and then to guide a robot for analysis.
China has already carried out a similar operation on the Moon, where it deposited in 2013 “Jade Rabbit”, a small remotely guided rover, and later, in 2019, another robot, the latter on the hidden side of the satellite, a world first .
The United States is the country with the largest presence on Mars: it has sent four exploration vehicles to date, and in July it will send the fifth, named Persistence.
The United Arab Emirates also wants to join the race to the red planet, with a probe that will be launched from Japan.
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