China is expected to launch its first probe satellite to Mars in July or in August 2020, local media reported Tuesday.
The People's Daily newspaper reported citing Wan Weixing, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, responsible for Beijing's Mars exploration program would arrive to Mars after seven months of flight and would start sending information back in 2021.
The media outlet added that the satellite's life expectancy was about two years on Earth.
Beijing has been developing its space program for years. In 2003, China launched the first country's manned spacecraft with Yang Liwei on board. China plans. In 2013, Beijing's Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover became the first rover landed on the moon since mid-1970s.
In January, China National Space Administration's Vice Director Wu Yanhua said that Beijing was planning two missions to Mars and one to Jupiter on its exploration agenda.
China's 1st cargo spacecraft to make three rendezvous with Tiangong-2
China's first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 is expected to dock with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab three times after its planned launch in April, sources said Saturday.
Tianzhou-1 will be sent into space from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province aboard a Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket, according to a spokesperson of China's manned space program.
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