China Plans to Land on Mars by 2020 With its New Rover

The world, or at least China, will have more eyes on Mars as they plan an unmanned mission to reach this popular planet in the year 2020.

Beijing released the news and images of the rover that will eventually hit the red planet. In addition, a competition was established to come up with a logo and a name for the vehicle.

As the third country to put a man in space in 2003 after the United States and Russia, China plans to make up for their slow start in space exploration by going full throttle in the next years.

According to Beijing, the main purpose of the Mars exploration is to analyze the soil and atmosphere. It is also hoped that ice and water will be found, as well as some other features.

The six-wheeled rover will weigh 200 kg, carry 13 sets of sophisticated equipment, 4 solar panels, and will operate for 92 days.

In order to catch up with the US and Europe, China has been investing heavily into their space exploration.

As of the date of this article, the US is the only country with a successful mission to Mars, but a joint venture between Russia and Europe is currently on the way.

China, however, is no newcomer when it comes to tech innovations. They have recently built the world’s largest radio telescope and impressed the world with other major projects.