China is likely to launch a Mars probe in 2021 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ruling Communist Party of China. This is after a decade of its first failed mission in 2011, but countries like India, US, Russia and Europe space agency stole the march. “After months of flying, the probe is expected to land on Mars at the 100th anniversary of the CPC. If successful, it will be a present from people working in the aerospace field,” Ye Peijian, an official of China’s space program, said.
The Communist Party of China was founded in 1921. Ye Peijian said China has accumulated enough experience from its moon project. “Our team accomplished the moon exploration project in 2013 as part of the Chang’e-3 mission.” China unveiled a model of its orbiter and landing rover at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai in 2015.
“Up till now we have made a breakthrough on the communication issue with a distance of 400 million km and the main difficulty would be landing on Mars.” China previous mission to send a probe to the Red Planet along with Russia’s joint mission failed in 2011. So far, India, the US, the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency have carried out the Mars exploration successfully.
Other orders include the Chang’e-5 lunar probe mission that is expected to bring back soil from the moon around 2017 and the much-anticipated space station’s core module that will be launched around 2020. The launch vehicle is slated to make a maiden flight later this year. The size and structure of the Mars probe will be similar to Chang’e-3, China’s first lunar Lander that was launched in 2013 though there are many differences, Ye said.