China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, another milestone for its space
programme after putting humans into orbit and landing a probe on the Moon.

It is among a trio of nations, along with the United Arab Emirates and the
United States, launching missions to the Red Planet this month, taking
advantage of a period when Mars and Earth are favourably aligned.

Beijing’s space programme has made huge strides in recent years as it tries
to catch up with the United States and Russia.

Here are five things to know about the programme:

‘Questions to
Heaven’

China’s Mars probe lifted off on July 23 from the southern island of Hainan.

The mission was dubbed Tianwen-1 (“Questions to Heaven”) in a nod
to a classical Chinese poem that has verses about the cosmos.

The probe aims to go into Martian orbit, land on the planet and release a
small rover to conduct research on its surface.

The craft will travel at least 55 million kilometres (34 million miles) to
reach its destination. It will arrive seven months after launch, in February,
according to an official.

Without Russia
this time

It is not China’s first attempt to go to Mars.

A previous mission with Russia in 2011 failed because the Russian launcher
was unable to get the craft into a transfer orbit to slingshot towards the Red
Planet.

The hardware partially disintegrated as it later crashed back to Earth.

Following that failure, Beijing decided to try again on its own.

“Its purposes are not different from those of other countries: develop
the capability, explore the universe… and finally, create political influence
and national prestige,” said Chen Lan, an independent analyst at
GoTaikonauts.com, which specialises in news about China’s space programme.

Six-wheeled rover

The rover, weighing 240 kilogrammes (530 pounds), has six wheels and four
solar panels, Chinese state media reported.

The rover will roam Mars for three months, according to Sun Zezhou, chief
engineer of the probe.

The machine is supposed to analyse the planet’s soil and atmosphere, take
photos, chart maps and look for signs of past life.

Jade Rabbits

China sent two rovers to the Moon, Jade Rabbit One and Two (Yutu in
Chinese), in 2013 and 2019.

The second rover made a historic soft landing on the far side of the Moon,
making China the first country to do so.

“The lunar Yutu rovers are good practice in many ways for a Martian
rover. The terrain is broadly similar,” Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer
at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told AFP.

But the distance from Earth means communication will be slower, McDowell
said, adding that the risk of problems increases with such a long trip.

Space race

China has poured billions of dollars into its space programme to catch up
with the US, Russia and Europe.

In 2003, it became the third nation — after the US and Russia — to send a
human into space.

It has launched a slew of satellites into orbit, completing a constellation
in June to set up its own navigation system, Beidou, to rival the US GPS
system.

The Asian powerhouse plans to assemble a space station by 2022 in Earth
orbit.

And China is aiming even higher, hoping to become only the second nation to send
humans to the Moon a decade from now.