NASA is set to launch its fourth Mars rover mission today.
Key points:
- China’s military-led space program is aiming to achieve three ‘firsts’ — a Mars orbiter, a lander and a rover all in one mission
- Analysts say China’s and the US space program suggest we’re about to enter a new ‘golden era’ of space exploration
- While US has a technological lead, competition in space will be a major area of rivalry in future
The mission includes a micro-helicopter that will attempt the first flight on the red planet.
But by the time it arrives around March next year, another rover from China will be preparing to touch down.
Both missions have prompted a great deal of speculation about a new 21st century space race.
Last time it was the world’s two biggest superpowers, Russia and the United States, competing to send a man to the Moon.
But this time another major superpower has entered the mix.
Perseverance — as the US rover is called — is part of an ambitious long-term NASA program to capture ground samples and transport them back to earth, where they can be studied in unprecedented detail.
The mini-helicopter experiment aims to see whether it’s possible to carry out close-range aerial surveys of Mars covering more ground than a rover could.
China’s mission, on the other hand, is ambitious in other ways.
The Tianwen-1 probe — named after a classic poem titled ‘heavenly questions’ — blasted off from China’s