China lands spacecraft on Mars for the first time

[essentialsaltes]

China has for the first time landed a spacecraft on Mars.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday that the lander had touched down, citing the China National Space Administration.

Plans call for a rover to stay in the lander for a few days of diagnostic tests before rolling down a ramp to explore an icy area of Mars known as Utopia Planitia. It will join an American one that arrived at the planet in February.

The U.S. has had nine successful landings on Mars since 1976. The Soviet Union landed on the planet in 1971, but the mission failed after the craft stopped transmitting information soon after touchdown.

 

[Sabertooth]

It is prepared to meet up with the Perseverance at a later date...

Battlebots

 

[Bobber]

China has for the first time landed a spacecraft on Mars.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday that the lander had touched down, citing the China National Space Administration.

Plans call for a rover to stay in the lander for a few days of diagnostic tests before rolling down a ramp to explore an icy area of Mars known as Utopia Planitia. It will join an American one that arrived at the planet in February.

The U.S. has had nine successful landings on Mars since 1976. The Soviet Union landed on the planet in 1971, but the mission failed after the craft stopped transmitting information soon after touchdown.

Always makes me wonder what the end goal is for all of this. People who like to dream envision beyond just robot ships.... human colonies on Mars.....yes we have the technology to send men to there but really what's the payback for doing so? Worth it?

My prediction : Man will go to Mars eventually....maybe 2 or 3 times just to have the thrill to say we've done it but that'll be it. Too costly to do it repeatedly and extremely dangerous. The thought will eventual take over ... why bother?

 

[CatsRule2020]

China's motivation for any Mars landing would definitely for military reasons.

The best thing for the U.S. to do would be to closely guard our developing technology. Apply and enforce espionage laws regarding this technology. No longer allow Chinese students to study at our institutions.

 

[Ponderous Curmudgeon]

China's motivation for any Mars landing would definitely for military reasons.

The best thing for the U.S. to do would be to closely guard our developing technology. Apply and enforce espionage laws regarding this technology. No longer allow Chinese students to study at our institutions.

We gain a whole lot more from being the go to place for immigrants than trying to keep them out. BTW, where did your family immigrate from? Probably one of those places that was denigrated at the time.

 

[Occams Barber]

Always makes me wonder what the end goal is for all of this. People who like to dream envision beyond just robot ships.... human colonies on Mars.....yes we have the technology to send men to there but really what's the payback for doing so? Worth it?

My prediction : Man will go to Mars eventually....maybe 2 or 3 times just to have the thrill to say we've done it but that'll be it. Too costly to do it repeatedly and extremely dangerous. The thought will eventual take over ... why bother?

Why bother?

Have you never left your home to go to a distant place out of curiosity?. The urge to see what's on the other side of the hill is a normal human drive. If you've ever been a tourist you also have that drive. It's the same drive that makes us climb mountains or drives explorers into the unknown.

Ostensibly we'll go to Mars for the knowledge it will bring, but the real reason, the thing that really drives us is:

Because it's there
​

OB

 

[SelfSim]

Why bother?

Have you never left your home to go to a distant place out of curiosity?. The urge to see what's on the other side of the hill is a normal human drive. If you've ever been a tourist you also have that drive. It's the same drive that makes us climb mountains or drives explorers into the unknown.

Ostensibly we'll go to Mars for the knowledge it will bring, but the real reason, the thing that really drives us is: Because it's there

There's more to it all than just new knowledge acquisition (knowing the unknown) and curiosity, I think(?)
There's a deep sense of satisfaction many of us somehow associate with the concept of 'progress' (whatever that means) there, (I think?). I'm not at all sure we all share in that same deep sense of satisfaction though(?)
Survival and the fear of not succeeding, seems to be a quite popular motivator, too(?)

I think the two domains of thinking there, will have to come together in order to take on sustained residence in locations beyond Earth?

 

[Bobber]

Why bother?

Have you never left your home to go to a distant place out of curiosity?. The urge to see what's on the other side of the hill is a normal human drive. If you've ever been a tourist you also have that drive. It's the same drive that makes us climb mountains or drives explorers into the unknown.

Ostensibly we'll go to Mars for the knowledge it will bring, but the real reason, the thing that really drives us is:

Because it's there
​

OB

Yes and I agree with most of that. Man would like to go to Mars because it's there....but would the drive be sustained of wanting to repeat it continually. As I said maybe 1-3 times. As for knowledge what can't you really not get from robotic ships only. Having MAN there could actually become a slow down of things you could do.

 

[Occams Barber]

Yes and I agree with most of that. Man would like to go to Mars because it's there....but would the drive be sustained of wanting to repeat it continually. As I said maybe 1-3 times. As for knowledge what can't you really not get from robotic ships only. Having MAN there could actually become a slow down of things you could do.

I agree - Whether we continue visiting Mars in the long term will depend on what we get out of it vs the cost.

OB

 

[AV1611VET]

Plans call for a rover to stay in the lander for a few days of diagnostic tests before rolling down a ramp to explore an icy area of Mars known as Utopia Planitia. It will join an American one that arrived at the planet in February.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

 

[Bungle_Bear]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The Soviets are very pleased to hear that

 

[Ophiolite]

Because it's there

The oft-quoted answer given by George Mallory to the question, 'why do you want to climb Mount Everest?' Mallory eventually died in his third attempt in 1924. (It remains possible that he and his climbing partner Irvine may have reached the summit.)

Man would like to go to Mars because it's there....but would the drive be sustained of wanting to repeat it continually.

If we continue the analogy with Everest, consider that it was climbed first in 1953 by two members of the British expedition. More than 890 individuals reached the summit in 2019, the current record. The total number of summitters is approaching 10,000.

The enthusiasm for reaching the summit continues, despite the death toll that exceeds 300. Yet Mount Everest offers nothing other than "being there". In contrast, Mars in not only there, but is of considerable scientific interest. And add to that Elon Musk's motivation, "to make man a multi-planetary species", as insurance against a disaster on Earth.

I'll note my own scientific agnostic position: humanity is the first species, to our current knowledge, that represents the universe's ability to contemplate itself. As such, we have a duty (I might say a sacred duty) to go out there, in humility and hope, and explore.

 

[AV1611VET]

The enthusiasm for reaching the summit continues, despite the death toll that exceeds 300.

Pffft.

If you want to look good killing yourself, Niagara Falls has that beat in spades.

 

[Bobber]

The enthusiasm for reaching the summit continues, despite the death toll that exceeds 300. Yet Mount Everest offers nothing other than "being there". In contrast, Mars in not only there, but is of considerable scientific interest.

Like what? We already know it's temperature ranges, content of the atmosphere, air pressure, weather and basic composition of soil and rocks.

I'll note my own scientific agnostic position: humanity is the first species, to our current knowledge, that represents the universe's ability to contemplate itself. As such, we have a duty (I might say a sacred duty) to go out there, in humility and hope, and explore.

I'm not sure the word explore works well when we're talking about stuck around our own solar system of about 8 or 9 dead planets around our sun. If one is talking about having things like warp drives, the things that make science fiction exciting I'd agree with you. If you could jump from one star system to another in a matter of minutes, hours or days I'd agree with the boldly going where no man has gone before. As it is.......

Ironically if the above were ever to take place (warp drive stuff) you might get to the stars faster if whatever money was invested in study to create such technology instead of large amount of funds sending men personally to Mars. Maybe the payback when it comes to explore/adventure would be greater this way.

 

[Ophiolite]

Like what? We already know it's temperature ranges, content of the atmosphere, air pressure, weather and basic composition of soil and rocks.

Let me answer from the viewpoint of a geologist. We know practically nothing about Mars. Some examples of unanswered questions:

• Is the planet still volcanically active?
• What is the source of the periodically detected methane?
• What are the weathering rates in differrent rock types at different latitudes?
• What is the cause of the crustal dichotomy?
• What produced the high levels of crustal magnetism in restricted areas of the planet?
• How accurate are the relative ages assigned to different formations around the planet?
• What are the absolute ages of these formations?
• What consequences have resulted from the extreme variations in axial tilt?

I could go on. If I took some time and actually read some recent papers, rather that just taking a couple of ideas of the top of my head I could probably give you a couple of hundred specific examples? And, since I was talking from a geologist's perspective I made no mention of the big one: is there now, or has there ever been in the past, life on Mars?

I'm not sure the word explore works well when we're talking about stuck around our own solar system of about 8 or 9 dead planets around our sun. If one is talking about having things like warp drives, the things that make science fiction exciting I'd agree with you.

I don't envisage warp drives. Nice to have, but unnecessary for colonising the galaxy. One of the following will work:

• Hibernation
• Generation ships
• Frozen embryos, vitalised on arrival and raised by AI's with emotional enhancement.

Bobber, we have different perspectives. To me, short term is the next millenium. I suspect you look at matters a little closer to hand. Nothing wrong with that, but it produces different expectations and desires.

 

[Oneiric1975]

Let me answer from the viewpoint of a geologist. We know practically nothing about Mars. Some examples of unanswered questions:

• Is the planet still volcanically active?
• What is the source of the periodically detected methane?
• What are the weathering rates in differrent rock types at different latitudes?
• What is the cause of the crustal dichotomy?
• What produced the high levels of crustal magnetism in restricted areas of the planet?
• How accurate are the relative ages assigned to different formations around the planet?
• What are the absolute ages of these formations?
• What consequences have resulted from the extreme variations in axial tilt?

You're gonna be really disappointed if it turns out Mars is only 6,538 years old!

I could go on. If I took some time and actually read some recent papers, rather that just taking a couple of ideas of the top of my head I could probably give you a couple of hundred specific examples? And, since I was talking from a geologist's perspective I made no mention of the big one: is there now, or has there ever been in the past, life on Mars?

I remember I was teaching an intro geology course the first time a lander on Mars started coming back with elemental analyses of the rocks. I used them in a lecture (we were talking about the different types of rocks at that time) so we discussed the difference between the elemental composition and what it might mean.

Mars is such a cool destination. So much cool stuff to learn.