Chinese Mars exploration program

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This article or section documents a scheduled or expected spaceflight. Details may change as the launch date approaches or more information becomes available.

Little is known of the Chinese Mars exploration program. While the Moon is the first priority, there are plans for Martian exploration that follow upon the work done in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. China has been studying the necessity and feasibility of Mars exploration since early 1990s as part of the national "863 Planetary Exploration" project, according to Liu Zhenxing, a researcher from the CAS Center for Space Science and Applied Research (CSSAR).

The overall plan could have four phases:

• Phase 1 (up to 2009) includes all the preparations before the first mission. This includes international cooperation, definition of exploration goals and projects, and key technologies.

• Phase 2 (after 2009) includes orbiter missions that probe the Martian environment, preparing for future soft-landing missions on Mars.

• Phase 3 would launch spacecraft to land on the red planet, including rovers.

• Phase 4 would establish surface observation stations, develop shuttle vehicles between Earth and Mars, and build bases that robot astronauts would attend to. The work in this phase would create a foundation for future human flights to Mars and human-tended observing outpost.

[edit] Yinghuo-1

Yinghuo-1
萤火一号
Mars-1 or Firefly-1

Organization	CNSA
Mission type	Orbiter
Satellite of	Mars
Launch date	October 2009
Launch vehicle	Zenit rocket
Mission duration	1 year in Mars orbit
Mass	110 kg
Orbital elements
Inclination	5°
Orbital period	3 days
Apoapsis	800 km
Periapsis	80,000 km

On March 26, 2007, the director of the China National Space Administration, Sun Laiyan, and the head of the Russian Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov signed the "Cooperative Agreement between the China National Space Administration and the Russian Space Agency on joint Chinese-Russian exploration of Mars". This include the launch of a Mars probe named Yinghuo-1 scheduled for October 2009. The probe will be 75 cm long, 75 cm wide and 60 cm high. Weighing 110 kg, it is designed for a two-year mission, according to Chen Changya, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering.

The name Yinghuo (simplified Chinese: 萤火; traditional Chinese: 螢火; pinyin: yínghuǒ), which means "firefly" (literally "luminous fire"), is a tribute to the homophone yinghuo (simplified Chinese: 荧惑; traditional Chinese: 熒惑; pinyin: yínghuò), an ancient Chinese name for Mars (literally "shimmering bewilderment").

China's Yinghuo-1 and the Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft will be sent together to Mars by a Russian Zenit rocket with a Fregat upper stage from Baikonur Cosmodrome in October 2009.^[1] In August–September 2010, after a voyage of 10–11.5 months, Yinghuo-1 will separate and enter an 800 × 80,000 km three-day equatorial orbit (at 5° inclination). The spacecraft is expected to remain in Martian orbit for one year. Phobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 will conduct Mars ionosphere occultation experiments. The probe will experience seven periods of 8.8 hours in darkness when the sun is obscured by the red planet.^[2]

The main scientific objectives include: (1) detailed investigation of the plasma environment and magnetic field; (2) study of Martian ion escape processes and possible mechanisms; (3) ionosphere occultation measurements between Yinghou-1 and Phobos-Grunt focusing on the sub-solar and midnight regions; and (4) observation of sand storms. The scientific payload consists of the plasma package, fluxgate magnetometer, optical imager, and occultation receiver.^[3][4]

[edit] Design

• 110 kg
• Power: 90 W (averaged), 180 W (peak)
• HGA 0.9–1 m dish (S-band), 10 W transmitter to 50 m Chinese dish, 2,500 bit/s
• LGA: 80 bit/s (up/down link),
• 2×3 section solar array, total length 5.6 m
• 3-axis stabilized, solar array perpendicular to the Sun
• Direct communication with Earth
• Two imaging cameras

[edit] References

• http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-05/22/content_6132750.htm
• Launch of Mars probe set for 2009

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