Next stop, Mars: Chinese scientists eye red planet probe within four years
Tibetan Plateau scouted as potential proving ground for rover technology as country mulls probe to Red Planet in as few as four years
Scientists across China are pushing forward with a project to send a probe to Mars, possibly in four years, but the research is being done largely out of the public eye.
The technological challenges involved are much greater than those posed by the soft landing of the Chang-e 3’s rover on the moon in December, specialists involved in the programme say.
The environment is more harsh, and communicating with controllers back on earth more complex. But a successful touchdown on the Martian surface would bring China on par with the American leader in space exploration, they say.
One of the specialists involved in the programme is Professor Dong Zhibao, a desert engineering specialist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The government asked Dong last year to lead a team of more than a dozen researchers to scout the Tibetan Plateau for areas that could simulate conditions found on Mars.
The goal was to build a research facility where experts could test out how Mars rover technology and equipment reacted to extreme conditions, he said.
“It is a very difficult job. We are required to enter hostile areas probably never visited by a human before,” Dong said. “We are also under time pressure. The study must be concluded before the launch of the first Martian probe, which is likely to be in 2018.”
