Beijing, Oct 21 (ANI): China's first Mars probe is likely to be launched between November 8 and November 20, after being delayed for two years, a scientist has said.
Yinghuo-1, a micro-satellite weighing 110 kilograms, will be sent into space with Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mission at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan.
The China Daily quoted Wu Ji, director of the National Space Science Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as saying that the probe is expected to enter a preset orbit around Mars between August and September next year.
China News Service, citing the Russian Federal Space Agency, however, said the launch will be on November 9.
Experts have said the project is expected to lead China further into deep space exploration, following two successful lunar probe projects since 2007.
Wu, who has designed scientific goals for the project with his colleagues, said Yinghuo-1 has been safely transported to the launch site, and a check showed everything is fine.
The satellite launch is aimed at exploring Mars' space environment, and relaying back the first images of Mars taken by a Chinese satellite.
Earlier reports said Yinghuo-1 would travel 350 million kilometers in 11 months before separating from the Russian landing craft to enter the planet's orbit. It is expected to circle around the planet for one year. (ANI)
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