Seeking to catch up with India's Mangalyaan mission, China has unveiled
its Mars rover being developed to scurry the Red Planet's surface for
signs of water and life and plans to test it in the rugged terrain of
Tibet.
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)
has displayed the machine and the technological hardware set-up at an
air show.
Photos of the rover's prototype, to be displayed at
the annual air show at Zhuai being attended by Defence Attaches of all
countries including India, were carried by the State-run Xinhua news
agency.
The robotic rover was to crawl over the rough Martian terrain with a powerful six-wheel drive.
At a glace it looks similar to Yutu or Jade Rabbit that China has sent to Moon to explore the lunar surface.
But
the Chinese scientists carried out some significant design changes to
deal with different environment on Mars, the Hong Kong based South China
Morning Post reported.
To beef up communication at longer
distance, the rover carries on its back a large dish antenna, which was
smaller and mounted at the neck on Yutu.
The wheels were also more solidly constructed than those on Yutu in order to deal with a rockier landscape.
The entire Mars exploration system will include an orbiter, lander and the rover, CASC said.
Some
intriguing issues regarding the rover, such as whether it would carry a
nuclear power source and the types of scientific payload on board, have
still not been answered, the Post said.
Yutu was crippled soon
after landing on the moon, probably due to low temperatures and fine
dust. The average temperature on Mars is lower than that of the Moon due
to its distance from the sun, and the notorious dust storms would also
be imposing enormous challenge to the rover.
Ouyang Ziyuan,
Chief Scientist of China's lunar project, told state media earlier this
year that China's second mission to Mars would be launched as early as
2020, and that by 2030 an unmanned spacecraft would return from the
planet with samples.
While Mangalyaan caught China by surprise, it fascinated them as it was sent with a modest budget of less than $100 million.
