"China will launch a Mars probe next year and plans to land on Mars before the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (2021)." Ye Peijian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of space science and deep space exploration at the China Academy of Space Technology, recently accepted The China News Agency reporter said in an interview.
It is reported that there will be a "Mars Rushing Day" every 26 months. At that time, the Sun, Earth, and Mars are in a straight line. At this time, Mars exploration is carried out. The route of the detector is the shortest and the most fuel-efficient. The closest "Mars Rushing Day" detection window to the current time is 2020, so China's Mars exploration mission is also aimed at this window.
Ye Peijian revealed that the current Mars exploration mission is proceeding in an orderly manner and all work is moving forward. If there are no special circumstances, China will launch a Mars probe in 2020.
"Our first Mars exploration mission will complete the 'rounding tour' in three steps. First we must be able to make global observations of the entire Mars; the second will land on Mars; the third Mars will be opened, in There are many difficulties in the survey on Mars. If it is done, it will be the first time in the world to accomplish three goals in one mission. This project realization is a big innovation." Ye Peijian said.
Mars exploration is China's first real planetary exploration, and its difficulty is self-evident. So far, the success rate of global Mars exploration is about 40%, and Mars is therefore known as the "spacecraft cemetery." In order to ensure the safety of China's Mars exploration mission, Ye Peijian focused on the parachute problem of the detector. "Next year's Mars exploration mission, I will repeatedly catch one thing - parachute. If the parachute fails, we will fail." Ye Peijian said.
In Ye Peijian's view, by 2020, at least one or two years later, China will step into the ranks of aerospace powers. "At that time, our detectors went to Mars and returned from the moon sampling. Our Beidou satellites have been deployed. China has its own Space stations, these will represent our country's entry into the ranks of space powers."