China Eyes Space Mission to Venus

BEIJING: China is considering adding a mission to Venus to its plans for planetary exploration, according to a senior Chinese space official. In a recent space white paper, China had listed its interest in missions to Mars and Jupiter. According to Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China's lunar exploration programme, China is also considering adding Venus to its targets for exploration, Space.com reported.

While Wu offered no further details of the potential mission, Chinese scientists, however, had proposed a mission to Venus early in the last decade.

As per a 2014 paper, the orbiter mission, which was not selected for further development work, would have focused on Venus's atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere, as well as carried out surveys of its surface and internal structure, the report said.

In 2020, China launched its first interplanetary mission Tianwen 1 to Mars. The mission's orbiter and Zhurong rover remain at work on the Red Planet. Weiren told Chinese state media earlier this month that Tianwen 2, 3 and 4 missions are set to follow the Mars mission, the report said. (IANS)

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