China Plans Mars Exploration This Summer... "Mars Arrival Expected in February Next Year"

China Plans Mars Exploration Around July-August
US First Private Manned Spacecraft 'Crew Dragon' Docking Success
Crew Dragon to Receive Official NASA Certification After Safe Return

At 3:22 PM local time on the 30th of last month, the United States' first private manned spacecraft, Crew Dragon, was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] SpaceX, a private space exploration company founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has successfully launched the first private manned spacecraft in the United States. Meanwhile, China announced its Mars exploration plan for this summer, signaling the beginning of a full-scale space development competition.

According to foreign media including the UK Daily Mail on the 2nd (local time), Bao Weimin, a member of the Science and Technology Committee of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, stated on China Central Television (CCTV) on the 1st, "Tianwen 1 is scheduled to be launched using a carrier rocket in July or August," and "It is expected to reach Mars' gravitational field and enter orbit around February next year."

Bao explained, "The core of this exploration is, first, to enable orbiting by Mars' gravitational field," and "Next, it is to ensure the landing takes about 7 to 8 minutes."

The remotely controlled probe consists of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. The lander plans to deploy a robotic rover to conduct surface exploration and research.

This is one of the projects being promoted to realize China's rise in space. This is expected to boost China's space exploration projects next year. China's ultimate goal is to build its own manned space station, 'Tiangong,' by 2022.

Crew Dragon approaching the International Space Station (ISS) for docking/EPA=Yonhap News

China became the third country after the United States and Russia to successfully land on the moon in 2013.

The United States' first private manned spacecraft, Crew Dragon, carrying two NASA astronauts, was launched at 3:22 PM on the 30th of last month from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

After launch, Crew Dragon separated from all booster rockets within 12 minutes and entered orbit heading toward the International Space Station (ISS). It successfully docked automatically with the ISS 19 hours after launch.

The return date of Crew Dragon has not been determined yet. If it returns safely, NASA and SpaceX plan to analyze the data and officially certify this spacecraft as a manned transport vehicle to the ISS.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.