China flies to Mars. The first rover has already been created

According to the publication of the Global Times, the Chinesescientists completed the construction of the first rover of the PRC, which will go on a research mission to the Red Planet in 2020. The mission will include going into orbit, landing and moving around the planet, the source writes, citing the leaders of the future mission.

What does China want to find on Mars?

The fact that China is going to send spacemission to Mars and become the first country to combine orbital and ground-based research, it became known in 2017. In 2019, the PRC confirmed its intentions, saying that the success of the mission to study the moon pushed the leadership of the Middle Kingdom to new heights.

As stated by the head of the Lunar Program of ChinaOuyang Ziyuan, the main task of the rover will be the search for possible signs of life on Mars. In addition, he added that the mission should help scientists understand whether conditions on the planet can change in the future so that it becomes habitable for people.

The orbiter is going to be equipped with seven scientific instruments. Mars rover will get six.

See also: Mars rover found something on Mars: life or not?

During the mission, the orbiter willstudy the atmosphere, magnetic field, temperature and landscape of the Red Planet, and the rover will examine the surface of the planet and test equipment that will be used in the next mission to collect soil and rock samples.

The launch of the mission is scheduled at the time when the orbitsMars and Earth will be at a minimum distance from each other. This happens only once in 26 months and lasts for only one, noted the chief designer of the project, Zhang Rongqiao.

So far, 45 have been sent to Mars.space missions, only 19 of which were successful. Now six spacecraft are operating in Mars orbit and its surface: four US (three orbital and one ground), one European Space Agency orbiter, and one Indian probe.

Transmission of radio messages from the Earth to the orbit of Marsmay take up to 10 minutes, notes Zhang Rongqiao. Therefore, the landing commands must be transferred to the landing probe before the vehicle begins to descend to the surface of the planet.

Storms on Mars

Dust covered rover solar panels

The biggest danger for rovers areincredibly strong dust storms of the Red Planet. They occur almost every year, and can last for several months. The use of rovers operating on the basis of solar cells, proved their vulnerability to these catastrophic natural phenomena. Therefore, the best solution would be to use a nuclear generator, said Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of the Chinese Martian mission.

See also: Martian helicopter is almost ready to be sent to the Red Planet

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