ALL TOGETHER NOW! Is there life on Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaars?
China’s secretive space exploration programme has launched an ambitious attempt to land on Mars and find evidence of life there.
‘The Mars rover has accurately entered the scheduled orbit,’ he said in brief remarks shown live on state broadcaster CCTV.If successful, China would become only the second country ever after the United States to land on the red planet.Its tandem spacecraft – which features both an orbiter and a rover – will take seven months to make the journey.
Dr Rain Irshad, from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that China’s launch marks an ‘impressive milestone’ for global space exploration. ‘We know that we’ve reached the limit of what we can measure with the instruments on the surface so this is a precursor to returning samples from Mars which is the next great aim of space science.’
Conquering Mars would put China in an elite club. ‘There is a whole lot of prestige riding on this’, said Dean Cheng, an expert on Chinese aerospace programmes at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
China unveils its Mars rover Tianwen-1China has debuted its first-ever Mars rover Tianwen-1 as well as its lander as the country prepares to launch its landmark space programme to the red planet any day from now.
Read more »
China unveils its Mars rover Tianwen-1China has debuted its first-ever Mars rover Tianwen-1 as well as its lander as the country prepares to launch its landmark space programme to the red planet any day from now.
Read more »