‘Two Bombs and One Satellite’: China eyes space race from Moon to Mars and beyond – India Today

With a recovering economy, a strongman attitude, and a plan to dominate, China is eyeing a new frontier space. The country that recently became the centre of global condemnation over the handling of the deadly coronavirus, on Friday joined an elite club of nations to land a rover on another planet.

China's first Mars exploration mission, the Tianwen-1 probe, touched down in the Utopia Planitia basin, putting the country officially in the race to Mars which has so far been dominated by Nasa and the United States.

President Xi Jinping had last month made it clear that Beijing is now part of the interplanetary race to explore new regions of the cosmos. According to Global Times, Xi in his congratulatory letter following the maiden landing of the Chinese rover said that "this success marks a major step forward in the country's interplanetary exploration, achieving a leap from Earth-Moon system to the interplanetary one. Leaving the footprint of Chinese people on Mars for the first time marks another milestone of the country's space industry development."

Over the years, China has made it clear that after showing its willingness to risk it all on the land, air and sea, the dragon is ready to take the next leap to go beyond Earth's orbit.

China's space mission has emerged as one of the most ambitious plans under President Xi Jinping, who is pushing the envelope on this frontier. (Photo: Getty)

When countries raced to the Moon, China decided to explore a section that has been left ignored for decades- the far side (the side not visible to Earth). The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) in January 2019 successfully landed its probe Chang'e-4, named after the goddess of the Moon, on the side that always faces away from Earth. The second successful landing came on the shoulders of Chang'e-3 probe that had reached the lunar surface on December 14, 2013.

While the country also landed its third probe Chang'e-5 in December 2020 on the near side of the Moon, the probe on the far side is still transmitting exceeding its three months operational period on Earth's natural satellite. The Chang'e-5, which landed on Mons Rumker area of the huge volcanic plain Oceanus Procellarum, known as the "Ocean of Storms" created a new record by returning a sample from the lunar surface for the first time since 1976. The last lunar sample was collected by Soviet Union's Luna mission.

India had tried to unsuccessfully land a rover on the far side of the moon. With the failure of Chandrayaan-2 behind, Isro is now eyeing Chandrayaan-3 to take the journey forward.

Infographic: Rahul Gupta/India Today

The International Space Station, a home away from home, flying nearly 200 miles above Earth has been a symbol of space exploration for decades. Developed jointly by the US, Russia and other countries, the module has been home for research and experiments to make humans an interplanetary species. However, the station is set to complete its operational life in 2024 and Russia has already announced a withdrawal by 2025. While the US' plans are unclear, China is all set to give an alternative to the ageing ISS as it sends modules one after another to build its own station beyond Earth.

The country was recently in the news when one of its Long March-5, a homegrown rocket, began tumbling uncontrollably after delivering part of the space station module, putting lives and properties on Earth at risk. The rocket booster landed unceremoniously in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives not before it evoked massive criticism from across the world.

The country was recently in the news when one of its Long March-5, a homegrown rocket, began tumbling uncontrollably after delivering part of the space station module. (Photo: Getty)

Named Tiangong which translates to a Heavenly Palace, the Chinese Space Station will be able to house at least three astronauts for a long duration stay and six for a shorter time period once ready. According to Global Times, "The Tianhe module, the largest, heaviest and most complicated spacecraft that China has developed to date, will provide astronauts with a living and working space of approximately 50 cubic meters. This space will increase to some 110 cubic meters once the other two experiment modules are in place." The space station is likely to be operational by 2022 with 11 scheduled launches set to carry critical life-sustaining modules to the flying construction site.

Xi Jinping had recently said, "I hope you will vigorously carry forward both the spirit of 'Two Bombs and One Satellite' and the spirit of manned spaceflight, be self-dependent and innovative to achieve victory in space station construction, and contribute to building a modern socialist country!"

Infographic: Rahul Gupta/India Today

295 days after it was launched aboard the Long March 5 heavy rocket from China, Zhurong, a 1.85-meter-tall and nearly 240-kilogram lander-rover combination touched down on Martian surface, firming Chinese presence in not so closely contested interplanetary exploration. The rover cemented Beijing's place in an elite list of the nation to go beyond Earth and reach the surface of an unknown world to look for an age-old critical answer Are we alone?

Six scientific payloads a pair of navigation and terrain cameras, a multispectral camera, a Mars surface composition detector, a penetrating radar, a mast-mounted magnetometer and a Mars climate station are onboard the rover that will study the characteristics of the Martian soil for a three-month period of 90 Sols. China had vowed to achieve orbiting landing and roving on the Martian surface in the first attempt. While it has orbited and landed on the surface now, Chinese engineers will roll out the rover in the coming weeks.

With China now on Mars, Beijing has plans to send another mission to the Red Planet by 2028 to return Martian samples to Earth. A similar mission is in the offing by the US and the European Space Agency. Beijing is also planning to push beyond Mars with missions being planned to intercept comets and asteroids to further the study of outer space and what lies in the far and wide reaches of the solar system.

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'Two Bombs and One Satellite': China eyes space race from Moon to Mars and beyond - India Today