Xinhua photo: a model of
the Mars probe at exhibition
China's first Mars probe is scheduled to be launched atop a
Russian rocket in October 2009, Chen Changya, a researcher in
charge of the project, said yesterday at a forum in Hainan
Province.
It is expected to reach Mars in September 2010 and will
eventually send back China's first picture of Mars, Chen said.
The probe is undergoing a series of tests and will connect with
a Russian rocket in May Chen said.
The probe, called Yinghuo I, weighs 110 kilograms and resembles
a typical weather orbiter, with two solar panels at both sides of a
cubic module.
The probe is being developed by the Shanghai Academy of
Spaceflight Technology and supported by space experts and
astronomers from around the country.
The launch-ready orbiter will be completed by June 2009, just
four months before it will be launched by a Russian Soyuz-2 Rocket,
which will also carry Russia's unmanned Mars rover
Phobos-Grunt.
The journey to Mars will take nearly a year as the distance at
its closest orbital position to the Earth is 56.7 million
kilometers – 150 times farther than that between the Earth and the
moon. A full orbit of the planet will also take the best part of a
year.
Yinghuo I will be equipped with seven scientific devices
including cameras and equipment to analyze magnetic levels as well
as to explore the disappearance of water on the planet.
(Shanghai Daily, December 3, 2007)
