科学家称中国有能力探索火星

科学家称中国有能力探索火星

China has ability to explore Mars: Scientist

Beijing: China has the ability to explore Mars and it is up to the government to decide when to send a probe to land on the Red Planet's surface, a top Chinese scientist said today.
China has the capability of exploring Mars, Ye Peijian, a top scientist with the the country's lunar probe mission Chang'e-3 programme said.
China is capable of sending a probe to circle Mars and land on it, Ye said, adding that the country has no problems with tracking control and communications technology.
China's space missions have seen systematic development.
The Chang'e-3 lunar probe, a part of the second phase of the the lunar programme, soft-landed on the Moon on December 14 last year with a moon rover Yutu (also known as Jade Rabbit), which has since experienced mechanical trouble.
Ye said China improved ground stations and tackled many problems concerning control and communications especially during the second phase of its lunar programme. "But the time to go (to Mars) will depend on the country's budget and decision," he told state-run Xinhua news agency.
The flight of 'Mangalyaan', India's maiden mission to Mars which was successfully launched in November, was watched with interest in China.
Ye Hailin, an?expert on South Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, said 'Mangalyaan' should be interpreted rationally as "a great achievement" of India that also deserves applause from the rest of the world.
"Like the Chinese, Indian people have their space dreams as well. The Mars orbiter, if successful, will increase the human race's store of knowledge and change our life," Ye said.
He said preparation for the 2017 launch of China's lunar probe Chang'e-5 is going as planned. Chang'e-5, as part of China's third-phase lunar programme, is expected to bring back moon rock samples to Earth.
Ye said the Chang'e-3 mission has helped China to better understand the lunar environment and has paved the way for further explorations.
As the backup probe of Chang'e-3, Chang'e-4 should not repeat the mission, but do something more "innovative and meaningful", Ye said without elaborating.
To make sure the returning mission is a success, a Chang'e-5 test probe will be launched this year to rehearse the route, he said. Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 missions were launched in 2007 and 2010 respectively.
Launched on October 1, 2010, China's first man-made asteroid Chang'e-2 is now about 70 million km from Earth.
Mars is considered the most Earth-like planet in the solar system. Currently, it takes about 10 months to send a probe to Mars.
So far there have been over 40 attempts to explore Mars but more than half of them have failed. Among 13 landing missions, only seven probes sent signals back after landing.
Russian spacecraft carrying China's first Mars- exploration probe, Yinghuo-1, which was launched on November 9, 2011, crashed on January 15, 2012.

中国的一位杰出科学家表示，中国有能力探索火星，而什么时候发送探测器登陆这颗红色星球的表面，取决于政府的决定。

叶培建，中国探月任务嫦娥三号计划中的首席科学家表示，中国拥有探索火星的能力。

叶培建认为中国有能力发送探测器，绕火星飞行并在火星表面着陆。叶培建还补充到，中国在跟踪控制和通信技术方面没有问题。中国的航天事业已经初步形成了体系。

嫦娥3号探月器是探月工程第二阶段的一部分，去年12月14日，“玉兔”探月车实现在月球表面的软着陆，后来出现过机器故障。

叶培建认为中国在探月工程的第二阶段，建立了完善的地面站，解决了测控通信等难题。“但是探索火星的时间，还要取决于国家的预算和决定，”他向新华社表示。

去年11月，印度的首次登月任务成功启动，发送火星探测器“曼加里安”号，中国对此表示关注。

中国社会科学院南亚研究专家叶海林认为，“曼加里安”号应该被视为印度的“巨大成就”，应该赢得世界的掌声。

“和中国人一样，印度人也有航天梦。如果绕火星飞行成功，会增加人类的知识储备，改变我们的生活，”叶海林说。

叶培建表示，即将开始为2017年发射的嫦娥5号探月器做准备。嫦娥5号属于中国探月工程的第三个阶段，将会把月球岩石样本携带回地球。

叶培建认为嫦娥3号任务帮助中国更好的了解月球环境，为进一步的探索开辟了道路。

嫦娥3号，嫦娥4号后备探测器虽然不会重复这项任务，但是会进行更加“有创造性，更富有意义的”任务，叶培建没有进行具体说明。

叶培建表示，为了确保返回任务的顺利进行，将在今年发射嫦娥5号测试探测器，演练轨道飞行。嫦娥1号和嫦娥2号任务分别开始于2007年和2010年。

2010年10月1日，中国发射首颗人造太阳系小行星——嫦娥2号。现在，嫦娥2号已经距离地球7千万公里远。

火星是太阳系中同地球最相似的星球。现在，向火星发射探测器需要10个月的时间。

目前，进行过40多次探索火星的尝试，但是半数以上的尝试都失败了。13次登陆任务中，仅有7个探测器在登陆以后传回了信号。

携带中国首个火星探测器的俄罗斯太空飞船萤火1号发射于2011年11月9号，于2012年1月15日坠毁。

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