China Accelerates Mars Program

securitas writes "You read it correctly - Mars. China has announced it intends to accelerate its Mars program, using experience and expertise from its fledgling lunar program. Following China's proposed Moon missions, the first phase would send a Mars orbiter to examine and survey the Red Planet; the second phase will involve wheeled robotic probes like China's Mars Explorer roving vehicle prototype, used to collect and analyze rock samples; and the third phase will involve returning spacecraft from the planet and establishing a permanent automated base on Mars. This puts the China-India space race and the China-USA space race in a very different light and clearly indicates that China plans to play with the big boys of Mars exploration."

Comments

E.E.E.T.

[jabbadabbadoo]

Before long, Mars will be populated with tiny yellow men and a bunch of chicken.

Any E.T's travelling by Mars the next 40 years will be laughing their ass off.

Re:Looks like NASA may finally get a kick in the b

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like NASA may finally get a kick in the butt.

Actually it doesn't look like that at all.

• The Chinese are far, Far, FAR behind.
• The Chinese projects are all plans and smoke, compared to NASA's which has sent probes and landers to both Moon and Mars and even put some men on Mars, even though it was more of a demonstration.
• The US is the world's greatest economic and military power --note the 'economic' part, that is important. China's economic power begins and ends with exploitation of cheap labour and over-development of a few cities at the cost of the rest of the country.

Re:No Race, Just Media Hype

[JahToasted]

Why not? The Saturn V is 30-40 years old and it got to the moon, right? And your super-duper-high-tech Space shuttle never got out of LEO.