Chinese Spacecraft Set for Mars Landing in May: State Media

A Chinese spacecraft is expected to land on Mars in May, state-run media reported on Thursday, citing a space agency official. From a report: The spacecraft, which left Earth in July, is set to land in Utopia Planitia, a plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars, the China News Service reported, citing Liu Tongjie, spokesman for the Mars mission. Separate spacecraft launched by the United States and the United Arab Emirates this year are also en route to Mars, though only the U.S. one will attempt a landing.

Re:

[geekmux]

There goes the neighborhood...

Speak for yourself. I've been a certified card-carrying lunar land owner since I was 9 years old, according to the comic book I bought it from. I'll be chilling there eating cheese, listening to Pink Floyd on the Dark Side, waiting for my roommate Darth to arrive.

You guys have fun with Cohaagen on Mars. Say Hi to Kuato for me.

Re:

[RitchCraft]

Maybe we should send a few masks .. just .. in .. case ..

Re:

[Tablizer]

They stole the F35 plans and made it better by slicing off bloat. We should swipe it back and dump the Swiss Army Blob the F35 has become.

Best of luck.

[Gravis Zero]

Despite our differences, I truly hope that they succeed. Mars is an exceptionally difficult target because of the absurdly long list of things that can go wrong. They don't call it the spacecraft graveyard [space.com] for nothing.

Re:

[thomst]

Gravis Zero observed:

Mars is an exceptionally difficult target because of the absurdly long list of things that can go wrong. They don't call it the spacecraft graveyard [space.com] for nothing.

Of course not! Because it's trademarked, they have to pay a licensing fee to call it that ... !

Five bucks

[Rick Schumann]

Five bucks says one of the two things will happen:
1. It crash-lands, destroying the probe, and they fake the whole mission after that
2. They lay claim to Utopia Planitia as Chinese territory

Re:

[Major_Disorder]

They should lay claim to the area, then setup a shipyard.
I wonder if the Enterprise was Chinese built.

Just wondering...

[sconeu]

What do K'Breel and the Council of Elders have to say?

Will someone have their gelsacs punctured if this probe lands?

Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards

[vanyel]

Maybe they're hoping to pick up a starship from starfleet?

Do we start with

[stabiesoft]

stop signs or skip right to stop lights on mars for traffic control?

Noway

[AndyKron]

No way! Mars is ours! The Moon too even though we abandoned it over 50 years ago and will never return in this century.