China's first unmanned Mars probe is being readied for a launch later this year, state media reports.
Russia and China have agreed to co-operate on Mars exploration
The Yinghuo 1 orbiter is scheduled to lift-off alongside Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft aboard a Zenit rocket in October after final testing.
The probe will slip into orbit around Mars some 10 months later.
It will investigate what happened to the water that appears to have once been abundant on the planet's surface.
The 110kg (242lb) Chinese satellite, developed by the Shanghai Space Administration, will carry eight pieces of equipment, including two cameras, the report said.
China became the third nation to put a man into space when Yang Liwei piloted the one-man Shenzhou 5 space mission in 2003.
In 2007, the country despatched an unmanned spacecraft called Chang'e to orbit the Moon.
Last September, Chinese astronauts, known as "yuhangyuan", stepped outside the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft to carry out the country's first space walk.
China is due to launch a space module next year and carry out the nation's first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of building a space station, state media say.
Phobos-Grunt is an unmanned probe that will touch down on Mars' biggest moon Phobos and then return a soil sample to Earth. It will also study the Red Planet from orbit, including its atmosphere, dust storms, plasma and radiation.
Yinghuo 1 and Phobos Grunt will blast off on a Russian carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The two countries signed an agreement in 2007 to co-operate on Mars exploration.
Information form BBC news China probe launch in October
========THINK SOME==========
大陸也發射火星探測器了，表示大陸方面的航太也更進一步，雖然台灣的航太也是不賴，不過總是有這麼一點耿卡在那邊，其實不論航太還是其他科學研究方面都這樣，只能說，還差了一點點。
可慶的是在這樣的環境下，其實還是有很多令世界驚鴻一撇的研究成果。
期待從是各行各業的人都人喜愛己所事，奉獻其所力。
The probe will slip into orbit around Mars some 10 months later.
It will investigate what happened to the water that appears to have once been abundant on the planet's surface.
The 110kg (242lb) Chinese satellite, developed by the Shanghai Space Administration, will carry eight pieces of equipment, including two cameras, the report said.
China became the third nation to put a man into space when Yang Liwei piloted the one-man Shenzhou 5 space mission in 2003.
In 2007, the country despatched an unmanned spacecraft called Chang'e to orbit the Moon.
Last September, Chinese astronauts, known as "yuhangyuan", stepped outside the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft to carry out the country's first space walk.
China is due to launch a space module next year and carry out the nation's first space docking in 2011 as a step towards its goal of building a space station, state media say.
Phobos-Grunt is an unmanned probe that will touch down on Mars' biggest moon Phobos and then return a soil sample to Earth. It will also study the Red Planet from orbit, including its atmosphere, dust storms, plasma and radiation.
Yinghuo 1 and Phobos Grunt will blast off on a Russian carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The two countries signed an agreement in 2007 to co-operate on Mars exploration.
Information form BBC news China probe launch in October
========THINK SOME==========
大陸也發射火星探測器了，表示大陸方面的航太也更進一步，雖然台灣的航太也是不賴，不過總是有這麼一點耿卡在那邊，其實不論航太還是其他科學研究方面都這樣，只能說，還差了一點點。
可慶的是在這樣的環境下，其實還是有很多令世界驚鴻一撇的研究成果。
期待從是各行各業的人都人喜愛己所事，奉獻其所力。
