Chinese-Russian Probe To Explore Red Planet, Radiation And Phobos

After establishing an alliance between each other, it looks as if the two major eastern space powers will be exploring "all things Mars" by sending a probe to analyze not only the Martian weather, but its asteroid moon as well.

(Mars Daily) The first joint Chinese-Russian mission to Mars is set to take off in October and reach the red planet in August 2010, an exploration project designer said.

A Russian Zenit rocket will launch a Chinese Yinghuo-1 satellite and a Russian Phobos-Grunt unmanned lander, Chen Changya, chief designer of the China-Russia Mars exploration project, told Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po newspaper.

Phobos-Grunt is expected to study Mars from orbit, including its atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation, before landing on Phobos, one of Mars' two small moons.

Phobos is one of the prime locations in our solar system, and any nation (or group of nations) that is able to secure this tiny satellite will probably end up dominating the Martian planet as a future space power.

Political ambitions aside, the Phobos-Grunt should help provide more information regarding how much radiation impacts the red planet, as that could determine just how safe living on Mars may be.



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