China lands on the moon while Musk wants Mars in six years



[ad_1]

Chang’e 5 lands on the moon. Image: CNSA / CLEP

Luxembourg, 2 December 2020. – China successfully landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon as Elon Musk speeds up his schedules to send humans to Mars.

China landed its Chang’e-5 probe, which it launched at the end of November, on the surface of the moon, China’s CCTV and international media reported. The mission, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, will attempt to collect two kilograms of lunar material in a large lava plain called Oceanus Procellarum, Ocean of Storms.

If the mission is successful, China would be the third country in the world to bring the Moon champions back to Earth, after the United States and the Soviet Union. China is preparing a test of its Long March 9 super heavy launcher for manned moon and space missions around 2030, Chinese officials said in late November.

Meanwhile, SpaceX founder Elon Musk wants to go further and “Occupy Mars” as he likes to call it SpaceX. Musk said at an awards event for publisher Axel Springer in Berlin that he was “highly confident” that a first manned mission would go to Mars in six years, or even – “if we’re lucky” – as early as 2024. The first The unmanned mission to Mars is on Musk’s calendar around 2022.

[ad_2]
Source link