China and Russia will launch a joint mission to Mars in 2009, marking a "milestone" in space cooperation between the two countries, Chinese state media reported yesterday.
The mission will see a Chinese satellite take off on a Russian rocket, according to the agreement signed on Monday between the China National Space Administration and the Russian Federal Space Agency, the China Daily said.
The agreement
The agreement, signed during an ongoing three-day visit to Russia by Chinese President Hu Jintao (
The China National Space Administration unveiled the details of the Mars mission to the nation's state-run press in Beijing on Tuesday, saying it was a "milestone" in the history of space cooperation between the neighbors.
According to the agreement, a small satellite developed by China will be launched along with Phobos Explorer, a Russian spacecraft, atop a Russian rocket, probably in October 2009, the paper reported.
After entering Mars' orbit, 10 to 11 months later, the Chinese satellite will be detached from the spacecraft and probe the Martian space environment, it said.
The Phobos Explorer, carrying equipment partly developed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, will land on Phobos, a Martian moon, and return to Earth with soil samples, according to the paper.
The mission
The China Daily also said the mission, which has previously been outlined in the Chinese media, was of scientific value, as it would yield information on the origins of the solar system and Earth.
China has said it hopes to launch a lunar exploration satellite some time this year as part of a program that aims to place an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2012.
In 2003 it successfully launched astronaut Yang Liwei (楊利偉) into orbit, becoming the third country after the former Soviet Union and the US to put a man in space.
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