China will have its first Mars exploration in a few months as its space agency revealed the name of its Martian mission on Friday.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) named its exploration program "Tianwen" or "quest for heavenly truth," while the mission has been named "Tianwen 1" in a statement on Friday.
CNSA also said it was named after a long poem by ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan.
In November last year, China completed its first public test of a Mars lander keeping the country on track for an unmanned Martian exploration mission this year. The space agency also said the mission to Mars will take place "in the coming months."
Currently, only the United States and the Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are the only two countries to land a spacecraft on Mars. At the same time, the European Space Agency and India have successfully sent spacecraft that enters the planet's orbit.
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True color image of Mars taken by the OSIRIS instrument on the ESA Rosetta spacecraft during its February 2007 flyby of the planet. The image was generated using the OSIRIS orange (red), green, and blue filters. Alternative description: The first true-colour image generated using the OSIRIS orange (red), green and blue colour filters. The image was acquired on 24 February 2007 at 19:28 CET from a distance of about 240 000 km; image resolution is about 5 km/pixel.
Chinese Martian mission
CNSA said the mission will gather information on the soil, geological structure, environment, and atmosphere of Mars.
It includes a lander, an orbiter, lander, and a six-wheeled rover, which "will have solar panels and carry 13 scientific instruments". The mission will land on Mars before July 2021,
Last year, China opened a Mars simulation base in Qinghai's Qaidam Basin that is the highest desert on Earth in western China and considered one of the best parallels with the Martian surface on Earth.
Meanwhile, unlike other superpower countries, China was late to launch its space missions. It only sends its first satellite into space in 1970, while the U.S. put the first man on the moon.
However, China has pumped billions of dollars and other resources into research and training. In addition to the Mars mission, China has been active in pursuing lunar exploration.
Last year, the Chang'e-4 lunar probe touched down on the moon successfully, which is a historic first and major achievement for China's space program.
There are already preliminary plans for a manned lunar mission in the 2030s. If successful, this would make China only the second country, after the United States, to put a human on the moon.
How coronavirus useful for planetary explorations
NASA experts say that knowing and understanding how to stay safe and healthy helps us prepare for landing on another planet.
It would need a high level of care and caution, which we have not had to exercise until now.
Of course, astronauts do not want to contaminate Mars' environment with Earth's bacteria, while it may show up as a false proof of life on the planet. Also, they have to be careful to quarantine any samples returned.
During the Apollo program, astronauts were quarantined for weeks before and after moon landings to ensure they have not carried pathogens to the lunar surface or the Earth after their return.
Now, we know that the astronauts did not pick up any diseases during their moonwalks, nor there are no signs of life on the moon. But, we never know in the future if science would tell otherwise.
