中国2020年将奔赴火星

China's first Mars voyager mission is expected to be launched around 2020 and reach the Red Planet a year or so later.

The computer generated images unveiled by the Chinese State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense show a six-wheeled rover which will explore the surface of Mars, along with orbiter and lander that will deliver it onto the surface.

Chief designer Zhang Rongqiao.

"The voyager is an all-in-one composite. We need an orbiter to orbit Mars; we need a landing capsule and a rover for after-landing maneuvers. The landing capsule makes sure that the rover lands safely through the atmosphere of Mars. We call the rover Mars vehicle."

The chief designer went on to give further details of the landing capsule and how it will descend onto the planet's surface.

"In appearance, it looks like the re-entry capsule of the manned spacecraft; in effect, it deploys parachutes after the atmosphere slows it down; it then drops off its bottom cover and uses its bottom thrusters to apply the braking effect. When it gets close enough to the Mars surface, it deploys its landing legs which helps it further decelerate, aiding its deceleration systems."

The rover will carry 13 payloads including a remote sensing camera and a ground penetrating radar which could be used to study the soil, environment, atmosphere of Mars, as well as the planet's physical fields and its inner structure.

Mars is the fourth planet away from the Sun, and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury.

It is an earth-like planet with a thin atmosphere.

It is often referred to as the "Red Planet" because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance.

The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are quite similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons.

There have been 43 Mars exploration missions so far, conducted by the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency, India and Japan. Only half of these missions succeeded, with the United States having both orbited and landed on Mars and with Russia just conducting a landing.

Zhang Rongqiao said China has gained a lot of experience and technological know-how from its manned and unmanned space missions, and said what the country had learned from its Moon exploration missions may also help this time.

But the chief designer also said a Mars mission presents risks as the planet is still an unknown quantity.

"We need a combination of different deceleration mechanisms for our Mars exploration mission; the key is how to coordinate them which we're not quite sure of right now. It poses a tricky question to our mission."

As part of the unveiling in Beijing, a public competition was launched to come up with a name and logo for the voyager.

For CRI, this is Huang Yue.