China assaulting Mars: the Asian giant on Thursday launched a probe that will travel a long journey to the red planet, in the midst of diplomatic and technological rivalry with the United States.
The machine was propelled by a Long-March 5 rocket which took off in a thick cloud of smoke from the Wenchang launch center, on the tropical island of Hainan (south), an AFP team found.
Place a probe in orbit and land a remote-controlled robot on Mars
The probe will not arrive before 2021. It will first have to make the long Earth-Mars journey in some seven months. The distance varies but is at least 55 million kilometers - that is, 1,400 times around the world.
Ambitious, China hopes to do in this first independent attempt almost everything the United States has achieved in several Martian missions since the 1960s.
That is to say, place a probe in orbit, land a lander on Mars, then bring out a small unmanned robot so that it can carry out analyzes on the surface. Among the missions of the rover: conduct analyzes of the soil, the atmosphere, take photos, or even contribute to the mapping of the red planet
"First time that China has ventured far into the solar system"
“This is clearly a landmark event for China. This is the first time that she has ventured far into the solar system, ”said Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in the United States.
"If it succeeds, it would be the first time in history that a non-American lander and unmanned robot have operated on Mars," said Chen Lan, analyst for the GoTaikonauts.com site, specializing in the Chinese space program. .
The mission was named "Tianwen-1" ("Questions to Heaven-1") in homage to a poem from ancient China that deals with astronomy.
Already the first training sessions on the moon
The robot weighs more than 200 kilos, it is equipped with four solar panels and six wheels, and will be operational for three months. China already has experience in this area, since it rolled two small robots on the Moon, with “Jade Rabbits” 1 and 2 - deposited in 2013 and 2019 respectively.
These rovers "constituted good training" because the lunar and Martian terrain "are broadly similar", according to Jonathan McDowell. But the Earth-Mars distance is 140 times greater than the Earth-Moon path. Consequence: slower telecommunications and a longer trip during which failures can occur, he emphasizes.
Giving Beijing a boost of prestige against Washington?
If successful, this mission would give Beijing a boost of prestige against Washington, which has just ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, the latest avatar of the intense rivalry between the two giants of the Pacific.
China is investing billions of euros in its space program, to catch up with Europe, Russia and the United States. It sent its first astronaut into space in 2003. Beijing is also launching satellites for itself or on behalf of other countries. The country has just completed in June the constellation of its Beidou navigation system - rival of the American GPS. He also plans to assemble a large space station by 2022. And hopes to send men to the Moon within ten years.
Reconciliation with Mars?
China had previously tried to ship a probe to Mars in 2011 during a joint mission with Russia. But the attempt had collapsed and Beijing then decided to continue the adventure alone. Is this the right one? “It's very ambitious for a first try. So much so that I will be surprised if the mission is a total success, ”says Jonathan McDowell.
“It's 50-50,” Judge Chen Lan. “China may fail this time. But she will succeed one day. Because it has the will, the determination and sufficient financial and human resources to achieve this. ”
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