More than ever, China is competing with the United States in the space race. Beijing plans to send astronauts to Mars by 2033.
Chinese President Xi Jinping dreams of going down in history as the man who overthrew the United States as the world’s undisputed superpower. Not only is he doing everything in his power to break America’s economic, geopolitical, and technological hegemony. The struggle for power is also raging in space. Beijing’s plans to conquer Mars illustrate this once again.
In 2033 we will send the first manned mission to Mars. Wang Xiaojun, head of the state-controlled China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, announced Thursday that the flights will follow in 2035, 2037, 2041 and 2043.
China’s ultimate goal is clear: to establish a permanent base on the Red Planet and extract resources there. But before that happens, there are still many obstacles to overcome.
Water
For example, the Asian giant will send robots to Mars in the coming years to locate suitable places on the planet to build a permanent inhabited base.
In addition, the Chinese want to know where water is extracted and where it is suitable for the production of oxygen and electricity. If all goes according to plan, Beijing will send an unmanned mission by the end of 2030 to sample the bottom of Mars.
In 2033 we will send the first manned mission to Mars. This will be followed by flights in 2035, 2037, 2041 and 2043.
Before the first manned flight to the Red Planet takes off, China must also succeed in developing technology to bring astronauts back to Earth.
This does not change the fact that Xi Jinping and colleagues. She already dreams of many other things, such as creating a fleet of spacecraft that will travel between Earth and Mars. “The round trip takes several hundred days,” Wang Xiaojun said. This travel time can increase when passengers disembark on their way to a space station that together form a “space ladder” in the wildest dreams of the Chinese.
United States of America
With these plans, China is in a direct battle with the United States. NASA has developed technology that should culminate in the first manned mission to Mars in the 1930s.
The race for space between the two superpowers is causing some fear for analysts. They warn that a lack of coordination, communication, and trust between the United States and China could lead to accidents and unnecessary safety issues.
Coordination is difficult between the two countries. Since 2011, a US law has banned NASA from working with the Chinese space program.
