Is space really the final frontier? We suppose it’s really too early to tell, but it looks like China wants to go ahead and explore it anyway. The Chinese government has recently announced their plans to launch a space mission to Mars in 2020, a plan that was apparently approved by the country’s authorities back in January earlier this year.Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, China’s National Space Administration director Xu Dazhe said, “What we want to achieve is to orbit Mars, land, and deploy the rover in one mission, which will be quite difficult to achieve.” However he also admits that this would prove to be a great challenge, not to mention a huge leap for the country’s space program if they were to be successful.
Just like what other countries like the US has done, China plans to study the surface of Mars like its soil, atmosphere, and look for traces of water. Xu adds, “Researching these matters is really researching humanity itself and the origins of life. Only by completing this Mars probe mission can China say it has truly embarked on the exploration of deep space.”
So far NASA has found evidence of water. Several years ago, it was determined that there used to be neutral water in the early days of Mars, and more recent findings have hinted that liquid water continues to flow on the planet, although whether or not it is drinkable remains to be seen. Now this isn’t the first time China has shown interest in space. Earlier this year the country announced their plans to explore the dark side of the moon, so this trip to Mars shouldn’t really come as a surprise.