China To Launch Mars Probe In 2009

[itsfullofstars]

"China, which sent its first lunar orbiter to probe the moon's surface recently, will launch its maiden Mars probe onboard a Russian rocket in October 2009" .......<br /><br />http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_To_Launch_Mars_Probe_In_2009_999.html<br /><br />Everybody (as in countries China/India/Japan/USA/Europe etc and private sector companies) keeps saying they aren’t taking part in a new space race. It sure feels like one to me. Exciting stuff!!<br /><br />One thing did confuse me in this article tho' ...........<br /><br />"The probe would land on the Martian moon and return to earth with soil samples, it said."<br /><br />Surely China cant develop the tech' to launch a sample return mission from one of Mars' moons by 2009?<br /><br />And which moon?!?<br /><br />Is this just a bad piece of editing?<br /><br />Itsfullofstars<br />

 

[3488]

Hi itsfullofstars.<br /><br />IMHO, China can do just that. Chang'e 1 currently orbiting the moon, is also a technology <br />demonstrater as well as a science spacecraft.<br /><br />Chinese rocketary is generally reliable & is well developed now, their electronics<br />industry & experience is on the rise, so I would not be at all surprised.<br /><br />It is clearly not a Mars lander, so it is either Phobos or Deimos.<br /><br />I would suspect Phobos, as Phobos is closer to Mars, but until the final plans are made known,<br />it will be just a guessing game.<br /><br />Thank you very much for the link & your tip off.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[itsfullofstars]

Thanks for the reply Andrew. <br /><br />I did a bit of digging around after remembering that both moons are very small and not very dense, I found out that Phobos' escape velocity is roughly 45 km/h. A soft touchdown and re-launch or even a bounce would be very easy compared to planetary touchdown and re-launch.<br /><br />My next question would be........ Why the heck has nobody else done this? <br /><br />I imagine NASA would be kicking themselves if somebody else beat them to a soil return.<br /><br />Itsfullofstars

 

[no_way]

Thats the piggypack on Russian Phobos-Grunt mission, reported earlier here:<br />http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000985/<br /><br />Yinghuo-1, the chinese orbiter wont be the one returning samples from Phobos

 

[3488]

I agree completely itsfullofstars.<br /><br />You are correct that is indeed Phobos's escape veloctiy. Diemos's is a paltry 24 km/h!!!!!<br /><br />This does indeed seem a very short time period, but China, lets face it have kept <br />their own internal technological developments secret over the years & have opened<br />up a bit with Change'1 & now with Yinghuo 1.<br /><br />I am surpised NASA has not done this, given their enormous success with their <br />Mars system exploration.<br /><br />Also the images hopefully from the surface too. <br /><br />Will be fascinating to have soil samples from Phobos & / or Deimos. Especially now, as they<br />appear to be similar to & are possibly captured type D asteroids.<br /><br />If Hayabusa makes it back with samples from the type S Asteroid 25143 Itokawa, will<br />be interesting to compare, & with the lunar samples & meteorites.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[no_way]

Once more, the sample return is planned to be done by Russian Phobos-Grunt mission<br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos-Grunt

 

[3488]

Hi no_way,<br /><br />Thanks for clearing up that confusion. The article was not clear on that fact & it was worded<br />in such a way that Yinghuo 1 WAS the sample return mission.<br /><br />A dedicated Mars Orbiter does make more sense.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[itsfullofstars]

Oh it is just a bad bit of reporting then :-( <br /><br />Thanks no_way, I will go read about phobos grunt now. <br /><br />(I remember reading about phobos grunt in the past but for some reason thought it had been canceled)<br /><br />itsfullofstars

 

[cbased]

http://www.laspace.ru/rus/phobos_sheme.php<br /><br />No, it is still in development. According to the manufacturer's site the launch is scheduled for October 2009.

 

[alokmohan]

Inia may land up unmanned mission to moon next year.I saw it in yahoo.com but the net went out.

 

[BReif]

While the US sits and contemplates cut after cut to the space program, which will ultimately delay and hurt the pace of exploration by the US, other nations like China still forge ahead. I wouldn't doubt that one day China may overtake Russia and the US for the lead in space, like Britain overtook Spain in the Age of Exploration and colonization on Earth.

 

[cbased]

Rumours are that unfortunately it (Phobos-Grunt) won't launch in 2009. Unfortunately for me - I am waiting for this mission! It seems like it will be pushed to 2011 instead (next launch opportunity). One of the official excuses will be integration with the chinese "piggy-back" probe.<br />Once again - at this stage these are just rumours.

 

[vulture2]

Some of the points made earlier are exxagerated; the Chinese probe is a small orbiter only and does not even have the capability for trajectory changes. However it is a major advance for China. <br /><br />Perhaps even more significantly, China has announced that they will double their overall basic R&D spending every other year for the next decade, a 50-fold increase. Compare that to the paltry US commitment to basic research! Allowing for the difference in purchasing power, China's total R&D effort will exceed that of the US within about 15 years. Currently their space-related life science research is at least a decade behind ours, but it is of high quality and is clearly catching up. They have made it very clear that they would like to work in cooperation with the US, but if the US is not interested, they will turn to Russia instead. <br /><br />Numerous US corporations and universities are already developing cooperative ventures with China. NASA might find it to their advantage not to ignore the opportunity.<br />