Chinese mars program

[xenomorph555]

Very recently the chinese agency have shed some light on their future mars program.

Starting after the chang'e programs complete, they will orbit mars by 2020 and return a sample by 2030.

It will be basically identical to the chang'e program, orbit/land/return possibly followed by some manned effort.

[Streetwind]

Interesting. Have they showed any concepts for potential land and return vehicles yet?

[xenomorph555]

Interesting. Have they showed any concepts for potential land and return vehicles yet?

Not yet, the orbiters will probably be similar to chang'e 1/2.

[Skyler4856]

Another space race, that sounds like a marvelous plan...

[DeepOdyssey]

Why this sarcasm? Yes it sounds like marvelous plan. Every great leap was due to competition rather than cooperation.

[peadar1987]

Why this sarcasm? Yes it sounds like marvelous plan. Every great leap was due to competition rather than cooperation.

Was Voyager due to competition (genuine question)?

I'm not aware of any "probe race" between the Soviets and Americans. As far as I knew, after Apollo, the Americans focused on probes, with Pioneer, Viking, Mariner and Voyager, among others, while the Russians, with the exception of the Venera programme, went more in the direction of space stations in earth orbit.

However, I was barely toilet trained when the Berlin Wall came down, so there's every change I just haven't heard about it.

[Kryten]

The Soviets had plenty of Mars probes, but none completed their missions and most were complete failures. Other than those and Venus, all they had were the Vega probes that visited Halley's comet.

[DeepOdyssey]

Was Voyager due to competition (genuine question)?

I'm not aware of any "probe race" between the Soviets and Americans. As far as I knew, after Apollo, the Americans focused on probes, with Pioneer, Viking, Mariner and Voyager, among others, while the Russians, with the exception of the Venera programme, went more in the direction of space stations in earth orbit.

However, I was barely toilet trained when the Berlin Wall came down, so there's every change I just haven't heard about it.

Every probe program was not even close to the cost of apollo program which was estimated at a 90 billion todays dollars. There was no real desire to go to the moon in private sector. The only way to advance on that field, was to create an artificial competition, covered up as an arms race. Yes, space program was initiated purely as an arms race competition, having a purpose to destroy the adversary, rather than cooperate with him.

As for the probe program,all scientific fields, are heavily based on cooperation of scientists from around the world, sharing their works and opinions. But it doesn't mean we do not need a healthy competition, especially in a field, that doesn't have an evident benefits in a foreseeable future. Scientists of course are guided by their pure curiosity, but the public opinion is another matter. They need an visible initiative to support such programs, like a mars manned mission.

[xenomorph555]

The Soviets had plenty of Mars probes, but none completed their missions and most were complete failures. Other than those and Venus, all they had were the Vega probes that visited Halley's comet.

Mars 3 did land successfully and was the first to land.

Also you forgot about the luna probes, they were successful.

[Kryten]

Mars 3 did land successfully and was the first to land.

It failed, what ten seconds later? It certainly didn't return any useful data.

[Skyler4856]

Why this sarcasm? Yes it sounds like marvelous plan. Every great leap was due to competition rather than cooperation.

While the martian mission would certainly be achieved, I seriously doubt the nationalistic pride would hold past the victory of either side, and once more man would retreat to his cradle.

[Rus-Evo]

When someone eventually stumps up to go to Mars, will they do a one launch ship like Apollo....... or build it in orbit out of 2 or 3 docked pieces (perhaps at the ISS)?

[Reddragon]

Another space race, that sounds like a marvelous plan...

Except it would be very one sided. That's why it won't happen sadly. However, there's the new race is for the private sector.

[xenomorph555]

It failed, what ten seconds later? It certainly didn't return any useful data.

20 actually...

legacys still there though...

[Albert VDS]

Having a brick on an other planet is not much of a legacy.

Venera had 11 failed probes before the 12th send usefull data. After that a few failures mixed in between some really succesful ones.

The Lunar programme had 30 failures and 15 succeses. Though the Lunar missions were at the start of the space age, it's still not something you could call very succesful.

The Soviets then and the Russians now have had some succesful mission, but their failed mission list is a lot longer.

Add to that they never had a probe visit the outer planets.

[xenomorph555]

Having a brick on an other planet is not much of a legacy.

Venera had 11 failed probes before the 12th send usefull data. After that a few failures mixed in between some really succesful ones.

The Lunar programme had 30 failures and 15 succeses. Though the Lunar missions were at the start of the space age, it's still not something you could call very succesful.

The Soviets then and the Russians now have had some succesful mission, but their failed mission list is a lot longer.

Add to that they never had a probe visit the outer planets.

Yes the luna program had many failures, mainly due to rocket problems, but the successes were incredible, first to impact moon, first to photograph far side of the moon, first to land on moon, first to orbit the moon, as well as first robotic rover and sample return missions.

Also some of the veneras landed and did their missions well, missions that have not been done since.

[Moar Boosters]

It failed, what ten seconds later? It certainly didn't return any useful data.

It set the precedent on how to successfully get something down onto the surface using a combination of aerobraking, parachutes and retro-rockets. That alone is a pretty big achievement.