China has its sights set firmly on Mars and is aiming to launch its own rover to the red planet by 2020.

New images have today provided the first glimpse of what this rover might look like when it launches at the end of the decade.

As part of the announcement, China also launched a competition for members of the public to come up with a name and logo for the rover.

China has its sights set firmly on Mars and is aiming to launch its own rover to the red planet by 2020. New images have today provided the first glimpse of what this rover might look like when it launches at the end of the decade

CHINA'S MISSION TO MARS A Long March-5 carrier rocket will be dispatched from the Wenchang space launch centre in the southern island province of Hainan, Xinhua said, citing Ye Peijian, a mission consultant. The lander will separate from the orbiter at the end of a journey of around seven months and touch down near the Martian equator, where the rover will explore the surface. The 200-kilogram (441 pounds) rover has six wheels and four solar panels, and will operate for around 92 days. It will carry 13 sets of equipment including a remote sensing camera and a ground-penetrating radar. Advertisement

China, which is pouring billions into its space programme and working to catch up with the US and Europe, announced in April it aims to send a spacecraft 'around 2020' to orbit Mars, land and deploy the rover.

Zhang Rongqiao, chief architect of the project, said they were targeting July or August of that year for the launch, the Xinhua news agency reported.

'The challenges we face are unprecedented,' the report quoted him as saying.

A Long March-5 carrier rocket will be dispatched from the Wenchang space launch centre in the southern island province of Hainan, Xinhua said, citing Ye Peijian, a mission consultant.

The lander will separate from the orbiter at the end of a journey of around seven months and touch down near the Martian equator, where the rover will explore the surface.

The 200-kilogram (441 pounds) rover has six wheels and four solar panels, and will operate for around 92 days. It will carry 13 sets of equipment including a remote sensing camera and a ground-penetrating radar

The 200 kilogram (441 pounds) rover has six wheels and four solar panels, and will operate for around 92 days.

It will carry 13 sets of equipment including a remote sensing camera and a ground-penetrating radar to study the soil, environment and inner structure of Mars and look for traces of water and ice.

China National Space Administration (CNSA) is an ambitious, military-run space programme that Beijing sees as symbolising the country's progress and a marker of its rising global stature.

A Long March-5 carrier rocket will be dispatched from the Wenchang space launch centre in the southern island province of Hainan in July or August 2020

A view from the 'Kimberley' formation on Mars, taken by Nasa's Curiosity rover, which has been on the red planet since 2012

The nation's first lunar rover was launched in late 2013, and while it had several mechanical troubles, it far outlived its expected lifespan, finally shutting down earlier this month.

But for the most part China has so far replicated activities that the US and Soviet Union pioneered decades ago.

CHINA IS BEING SPURRED ON BY INDIA One of CNSA's rocket scientists, Yuan Minhui, was recently quoted by People's Daily saying the agency was spurred on after being 'defeated' by India's space agency in the race for an Asian probe to reach Mars. China partnered with Russia to launch a Mars-bound probe previously, but it failed to make it out of Earth's low orbit. India's Mars Orbiter Mission, called 'Mangalyaan', proved successful, reaching the red planet in 2014. Meanwhile, Nasa and Esa have launched another mission, called ExoMars, the first stage of which will taste the Martian atmosphere for methane, which could be a sign of geological activity, and even life. Advertisement

It has already been beaten to Mars by India, which put a low-cost probe into orbit around the red planet in September 2014.

The US has landed two rovers on Mars and the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency have also sent missions to the planet.

China's first attempt to send a satellite into Mars orbit failed in 2011 when the Russian rocket carrying the payload failed to make it out of the Earth's orbit.

China has an ambitious, military-run, multi-billion-dollar space programme, however its first attempt to send a satellite into Mars orbit failed in 2011



