China Planning To Send Satellite, Lander, And Probe To Mars

China seems to be gearing up to explore the Red Planet. The academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told a Chinese news outlet that the national space agency will launch a satellite, a lander, and a rover to Mars in 2020.

"We will take on Mars from space and its surface, and we have finished the rover," said Ouyang Ziyuan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The mission is set to take flight next year because the probes can only be launched when there is a certain angle between Mars and our planet. Since the periods of revolution of both planets are different, it would be impossible for the probes to reach the Red planet otherwise.

"Why not do it? You can't launch Mars probes anytime you want, because you can only get a chance every 26 months. If you lose the chance, then sorry, you have to wait for two years and two months," Ziyuan added.

There were only 18 successful attempts out of the 45 times humans explored, according to Ouyang. The main purpose of the mission is to look out for alien life on the Red Planet, or if life ever existed on the planet. The mission will also study whether the planet can sustain life in the future.

For life, water is the most important element, and the drained riverbeds on Mars show that water did exist on the planet. The Chinese astronomers want to understand the distribution of the planet's underground water.

If everything goes according to the plan, the Chinese astronomers will also study the planet's magnetic layer, atmosphere, and ionized layer.

"We have to find a planet to see if it can be turned into the second earth, where human beings can immigrate. The only possibility is Mars as for now," said Ouyang.