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China Blasts Off on Its Long March to Look for Life on Mars
Wall Street Journal ^ | 07/23/2020 | Trefor Moss

Posted on 07/23/2020 5:53:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

SHANGHAI— China launched its first mission to Mars on Thursday, aiming to join the short list of nations that have landed a spacecraft on another planet.

The Tianwen-1 blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the island of Hainan at 12:40 p.m. local time aboard the newly developed Long March 5 rocket. It is expected to make the 34-million-mile journey to Mars in seven months, after which it will attempt to slip into orbit around the planet and send a rover to the surface.

If all goes as planned, China will join the U.S. and Russia as the only countries to successfully put a lander or rover on Mars.

And now the spotlight shifts to the U.S.’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which is due to launch its Mars probe in a week’s time.

The version of the Long March 5 used in Thursday’s launch had flown only three times before, including a 2017 failure that became one of the most major setbacks to date for the Chinese space program.

But the latest launch went smoothly, the state news agency Xinhua said. The spacecraft entered Earth orbit as planned before embarking on its journey to Mars.

“Mars! China is coming!” Xinhua said on social media when it announced the launch.

The Tianwen-1 program was named after an ancient series of poems, “Heavenly Questions,” by Qu Yuan, a writer from China’s Warring States period who was revered for his patriotism.

A latecomer to modern space exploration, China has made steady advances since first putting a man into space 17 years ago. The country landed its first rover on the moon in 2013 and became the first country to deploy a rover on the moon’s far side five years later.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: china; elonmusk; falcon9; falconheavy; mars; space; spacex
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1 posted on 07/23/2020 5:53:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Exploring for new locations to build more sweatshops!


2 posted on 07/23/2020 5:54:47 AM PDT by dowcaet
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To: dowcaet
They see a new market for Chinese Wetuwants and kleenahs.
3 posted on 07/23/2020 5:58:57 AM PDT by shadeaud (Stand up and be proud that you are Americans regards of color)
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To: dowcaet
They see a new market for Chinese Wetuwants and kleenahs.
4 posted on 07/23/2020 5:58:58 AM PDT by shadeaud (Stand up and be proud that you are Americans regards of color)
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To: SeekAndFind

China will need all the luck they can get.
It’s very hard to land successfully on Mars.


5 posted on 07/23/2020 6:04:45 AM PDT by tennmountainman (The Liberals Are Baby Killers)
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To: SeekAndFind
Hainan island rings a bell for some reason...🇺🇸😈
6 posted on 07/23/2020 6:06:30 AM PDT by Laslo Fripp (The Sybil of Free Republic)
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To: SeekAndFind
to Look for Life on Mars

The space probe is probably so contaminated that it will infect Mars like its a New York nursing home.

7 posted on 07/23/2020 6:19:45 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (In 2016 Obama ended America's 220 year tradition of peaceful transfer of power after an election.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Isn’t this why we have a Space Force?


8 posted on 07/23/2020 6:27:05 AM PDT by Lisbon1940 (No full-term Governors (at the time of election))
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To: SeekAndFind

If they don’t run a sterile ship when they launch, they just may find “life” that has stowed away on their little rocket.


9 posted on 07/23/2020 6:29:56 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Joe Biden- "First thing I'd do is repeal those Trump tax cuts." (May 4th, 2019))
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To: dowcaet

They will declare it to be a space port and charge us a docking fee any time we visit.


10 posted on 07/23/2020 6:30:56 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Joe Biden- "First thing I'd do is repeal those Trump tax cuts." (May 4th, 2019))
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To: dowcaet

A new place to make Nike’s.


11 posted on 07/23/2020 6:37:15 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: SeekAndFind

Hope they are not thinking about settling there. Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.


12 posted on 07/23/2020 6:44:58 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: shadeaud

“They see a new market...”

If Martians have more than two feet, it will be a boom to their shoe industry.

rwood


13 posted on 07/23/2020 7:27:40 AM PDT by Redwood71
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To: SeekAndFind

If they find life, they’ll just eat it.


14 posted on 07/23/2020 7:39:13 AM PDT by chrisser
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To: Rebelbase
“Raise Your Kids on Mars”?

You win the Internet! Sir Elton is pleased.

15 posted on 07/23/2020 8:11:14 AM PDT by Ace's Dad (Trump 2020!)
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To: SeekAndFind

COVID19 virus will be the life form China deposits on the Martian surface.


16 posted on 07/23/2020 8:21:49 AM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: SeekAndFind

A doctor who spent 12 months on the ISS studied his blood and heart bones and the effects of man in space.
He stated in 100 months human bones would decrease so much that he would almost have no bones left.
So much for Mars camping.


17 posted on 07/23/2020 8:46:00 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: SeekAndFind

China vs the Saudi’s on Mars. Who will win?


18 posted on 07/23/2020 9:28:22 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (homeless guy. He just has more money....He the master will plant more cotton for the democrat party)
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To: Lisbon1940
Isn’t this why we have a Space Force?

To prevent China from sending something to Mars? Why?

19 posted on 07/23/2020 9:33:40 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: DoodleDawg

Ecause we are competting for domination of the battle space.


20 posted on 07/23/2020 10:57:40 AM PDT by Lisbon1940 (No full-term Governors (at the time of election))
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