NASA is currently planning another human mission to the moon soon, all with the hopes of setting up a lunar base of operations as a jumping off point to Mars. However, NASA isn’t the only space organization around and the China National Space Administration, or CNSA, have some cosmic plans of their own.
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00:00 (gentle music)
00:03 NASA is currently planning another human mission
00:05 to the moon soon,
00:06 all with the hopes of setting up a lunar base of operations
00:09 as a jumping off point to Mars.
00:10 But NASA isn't the only space organization around,
00:13 and the China National Space Administration, or CNSA,
00:17 have some cosmic plans of their own.
00:18 They have just announced a series of launches in 2028
00:22 that will land on the surface of Mars,
00:23 conduct tests and collect samples,
00:25 and then return to Earth.
00:27 That return is currently planned for July, 2031,
00:30 and it's coming on the heels
00:31 of new Martian weather forecasting models,
00:33 ones that make planning a Mars mission more feasible.
00:36 This included what they are calling
00:37 a global open planetary atmospheric model,
00:40 providing insight and predictive models
00:42 for the red planet's dust, water, and carbon dioxide cycles.
00:45 This allows them to more accurately simulate
00:47 and predict Martian weather patterns,
00:49 taking a lot of the guesswork and finger crossing
00:52 out of landing on our neighboring world.
00:54 The program, which they're calling Go Mars,
00:56 can also be used to assess why mission control
00:58 might have lost communication
00:59 with a lander or landing team as well.
01:01 With the study's lead author and climate model expert,
01:04 Wang Bin saying about it, quote,
01:06 "The dust cycle on Mars is as important
01:08 "as the water cycle on Earth.
01:09 "Go Mars can be used to simulate the dust activity
01:12 "before and after the rover's dormancy,
01:14 "which can provide atmospheric environment data
01:17 "to analyze the possible causes of the dormancy."
01:19 NASA and the ESA have similar missions planned.
01:22 However, those aren't expected
01:23 to bring back samples from Mars
01:25 until 2033 at the earliest.
01:28 (gentle music)
01:31 (gentle music)
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