On race with America, China has ambitious plans to reach Mars. China plans to send a crew to Mars by 2033 and further build a permanently inhabited base. They plan to extract resources from the red planet.
In a space exploration conference, China’s main rocket maker told them that they planned for crew missions in 2033, 2035, 2037, 2040, and goes on. Before sending crew, robots will be sent to Mars to study the area to plan for setting up a base area. This base will be used to extract resources and work on certain experiments.
For the crew to use the resources, produce oxygen, find water underneath the surface and generate electricity are some ways. China plans to work on developing such advanced technology. While the Americans already have technology like boosters to reused the rocket and come back. China is yet to have the rockets which can send a crew to space and bring them back.
By the end of 2030, the extracted samples and other materials will be acquired by China’s uncrewed mission to Mars. NASA has already been working on sending crew by 2030. However, China seems to make potential plans to send fleets to mars and return some fleet to earth. The major challenge lies with the ability to tap energy from heat and electricity. Also, time plays an important role. They plan to make these missions happen in a few hundred days of flight time.
China’s space missions
Last week, China sent astronauts to their unfinished space station. It has been there since 2016 and was left out till this recent involvement. Once it finished, it will be living quarters for China’s space crew. The current crew on the station will stay there for three months. Expected to be complete by 2022 end.
The main reason for China to have a different space station is because they were banned from NASA. Currently, the International Space Station is being backed by Russia, Canada, Japan, and Europe. Chief designer of China’s manned space program said, “At this current stage, we haven’t considered the participation of international astronauts, but their future participation will be guaranteed,”
Furthermore, China plans to set up a base on the Moon. Deploying robotic expeditions to asteroids and Jupiter form the South pole of the moon. China already sent a remote-controlled motorized rover to Mars. Thus China became the only nation so far to land vehicles on the red planet. In some ways, Chinese space technology advanced beyond expectations.