2020 Chinese Mars Mission

2020 Chinese Mars Mission

Mission type	Technology, reconnaissance
Operator	National Space Science Centre (NSSC)
Mission duration	≥ 1 Earth year
Start of mission
Launch date	2020 (proposed)
Rocket	Long March 5
Entered service
Mars orbiter
Spacecraft component	orbiter
Orbital insertion	2021 (proposed)
Mars lander
Spacecraft component	Lander/Rover
Landing date	2021 (proposed)
Mars rover
Spacecraft component	Lander/Rover
Landing date	2021 (proposed)

The 2020 Chinese Mars Mission is a planned project by China to place a Mars orbiter, lander and rover on Mars. The mission is planned to be launched in 2020 with a Long March 5 heavy lift rocket.

Overview

China's Mars programme started in 2009 in a partnership with Russia. However, the Russian spacecraft Fobos-Grunt carrying a Chinese orbiter Yinghuo-1 crashed on November 9, 2011, after lift-off. After that, China started its own Mars project.

The spacecraft is being developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), and managed by the National Space Science Centre (NSSC) in Beijing. This Mars mission would be a demonstration of technology needed for a Mars sample return mission proposed for the 2030s. The lander carrying the rover will use a parachute, retrorockets, and an airbag to achieve landing.

The rover will be powered by solar panels, probe the ground with radar, perform chemical analyses on the soil, and look for biomolecules and biosignatures.

Scientific instruments

The notional payload consists on:

Orbiter

• space particle detector
• spectrometer to look for methane in the atmosphere of Mars
• space-based radar

Rover

• ground-penetrating radar to image about 400 m (1,300 ft) below the Martian surface
• radiation detector

See also

• Astrobiology
• Climate of Mars
• ExoMars rover
• Exploration of Mars
• Life on Mars
• List of missions to Mars
• Mars 2020 (rover)
• Mars Orbiter Mission
• Mars sample return mission