China showed off its first images of a rover that it plans to send to Mars in mid-2020.
China showed off its first images of a rover that it plans to send to Mars in mid-2020. The rover is designed to explore the planet surface for three months, state media said, the latest aim of China’s ambitious space programme.
China in 2003 became the third country to put a man in space with its own rocket after the former Soviet Union and the United States.
It has touted its plans for Moon exploration, and in late 2013, completed the first lunar “soft landing” since 1976 with the Chang’e-3 craft and its Jade Rabbit rover.
China’s latest manned space mission is due in October and is aiming for a manned Moon landing by 2036.
State news agency Xinhua, in a report late on Tuesday, said the 200kg rover would have six wheels and be powered by four solar panels, two more than the rover China shot to the Moon and 60kg heavier.
“The challenges we face are unprecedented,” Zhang Rongqiao, chief architect of the Mars mission, said, according to Xinhua. The probe would carry 13 payloads, including a remote sensing camera and a ground penetrating radar, on what is likely to be a three-month mission.
