China targets July launch for maiden mission to Mars named 'Tianwen-1'

China’s space agency is planning a July launch for its ambitious Mars mission which includes an orbiter, a lander, and a six-wheeled, solar-powered rover. The mission will be roughly aligned with the Mars missions of other space agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

China National Space Administration (CNSA) has named its Mars exploration mission as “Tianwen-1”, which in literal term means Heavenly Questions or Questions to Heaven, based on a famous poem penned by China’s well-known poet Qu Yuan. The quest for Mars is aimed at catching up with the United States, India, Russian and the European Union and has planned to complete orbiting, landing and roving in a single mission.

According to the CNSA, all planetary exploration mission will be named after the Tianwen series, signifying China’s quest to find the truth by exploring the universe. India, the US, Russia, and the EU have succeeded in sending missions to Mars and India became the first Asian nation to launch Mangalyaan, Mars orbiter mission, which entered the red planet’s orbit in 2014 in its first attempt.

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Race for Mars mission

Mars mission is among the numerous space projects China is pursuing to assert its position among the leaders. Recently, China announced the successful launch of a pivotal new rocket carrying a prototype deep-space spacecraft to test its ambition for operating permanent space station and sending astronauts to the moon. The carrier rocket, Long March 5B, was launched from the Wenchang launch site in the southern island of Hainan with an unmanned spacecraft and return capsule.

Meanwhile, the US has planned its Perseverance rover mission, part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. The Rover is currently undergoing final assembly and checkout at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will either be launched in July or August on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and is scheduled to land at Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021.

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(Representational Image: Twitter / @ChinaEUMission)