China disclosed its space exploration plans on Tuesday to soft land a probe on the far side of the moon around 2018, and to launch its first Mars probe by 2020.
Among other things, China plans to use this opportunity to conduct topographic and geological surveys of the moon as well as “key technological research on the bringing back of samples from Mars,” according to a white paper released by the country’s State Council Information Office.
The white paper also documents China’s space industry’s past accomplishments — including its first soft landing on an extraterrestrial body in 2013, where a rover completed patrol and exploration on the surface of the moon.
“Over the past 60 years of remarkable development since its space industry was established in 1956, China has made great achievements in this sphere, including the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs, missiles, man-made satellites, manned spaceflight and lunar probe,” the white paper states.
