国产av不卡一区二区_欧美xxxx做受欧美_成年人看的毛片_亚洲第一天堂在线观看_亚洲午夜精品久久久中文影院av_8x8ⅹ国产精品一区二区二区_久久精品国产sm调教网站演员_亚洲av综合色区无码一二三区_成人免费激情视频_国产九九九视频

National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

China's mission to Mars set for take-off in Oct.

(Shanghaidaily)
Updated: 2009-01-06 17:54

China's first mission to Mars is due to take off in October while the country's second moon probe is expected to blast into the sky a year ahead of schedule, a Hong Kong-based newspaper has revealed.

In this video grab taken on Saturday, September 27, 2008 from China Central Television, Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang waves to the camera as he conducts China's first spacewalk. China's first mission to Mars is due to take off in October while the country's second moon probe is expected to blast into the sky a year ahead of schedule, newspaper revealed. [Xinhua]

Related readings:  Satellite ends mission after 100 days in space  Ship back from mission of tracking Shenzhou VII space flight  Rare herbal plants aboard Shenzhou VII spacecraft studied  China launches new geostationary weather satellite

A Russian-made rocket will launch the Yinghuo-1 satellite on its 350-million-kilometer journey, and it is expected to reach Mars on August 29, 2010, Wen Wei Po reported.

At that time the distance between Earth and Mars will be about 56 million kilometers -- the shortest distance between the two, said Chen Changya, chief designer of the China-Russia Mars exploration project.

The Chinese-developed Yinghuo-1, which means firefly, will explore the Martian environment during its year-long mission and carry out research as to how surface water on the planet disappeared, Chen said.

Shadow periods are considered the greatest challenges facing Yinghuo-1. There will be seven during its orbits around Mars.

Each shadow period, which prevents the satellite receiving solar energy, will last 8.8 hours. Yinghuo-1 has to go to sleeping status and restart itself after getting through each shadow.

Researchers are still looking at ways to help the satellite sustain extremely low temperatures as they will plunge to minus 200 degrees Celsius in the shadows, Chen added.

Meanwhile, China's second moon probe, Chang'e-2, is likely to be launched this year, a year ahead of schedule, the newspaper said.

Chang'e-2 will collect more detailed images and statistics of the moon's surface.

In 2012, Chang'e-3 is expected to carry a lunar landing spacecraft and a moon rover. In the final phase, another rover will land on the moon and return to Earth with soil and stone samples for scientific research in or around 2018, the newspaper said.

The country launched its first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, on October 24, 2007.