International space agencies are currently on the brink of a potential second space race after China's plans were announced. According to the reports, Asia's super-power is driven to visit Earth's neighboring planets in the following years.
China was observed to conduct multiple space ventures in recent years. Alongside staple space organizations like NASA and ESA, the country surprisingly performed well in their missions.
China's Space Missions in the Future
IN SPACE - JUNE 6: In this handout image provided by NASA, the SDO satellite captures an ultra-high-definition image of the Transit of Venus across the face of the sun on June 6, 2012, from space. The last transit was in 2004, and the next pair of events will not happen again until 2117 and 2125.
In a new chapter of China's progression, they announced that space projects would notch up a bit in the near future. The country considered the plan quickly following a separate announcement from NASA, which has plans on sending two probes to planet Venus sometime before the end of the decade.
NASA anticipates success on astronomical studies from two of their newest space vessels, namely DAVINCI+ and VERITAS. Missions that will involve both of the probes are being prepared to investigate the planet Venus, as well as the planetary features it consists of.
NASA's main goal on Venus is to research the terrains and the atmospheric regions of the planet. Experts believe that the planet holds potential clues that could explain the reason behind the existence of life and its processes here on Earth.
Scientists speculate that most of the compounds associated with producing what we call life might just be hovering over Venus's surface.
The planetary properties of Venus have been observed comparable to Earth. Many studies have already pointed out that the mass of its entirety and its density reflect what our planet has.
Many theories suspect that visiting and conducting comprehensive research on Venus will reveal more unknown similarities, including dried oceans and displaced tectonic plates.
Venus is the New Mars
DAVINCI+ lead investigator James Garvin explained in a report by The Sun that habitability, among many other aspects, will be part of the upcoming studies and the search for signs of life on Venus.
According to updates, Chinese Lunar Exploration Program lead designer Wu Weiren recently said that the country's space organization is also planning to add more missions on Venus, despite the very tight schedules they already laid out for their independent space ventures.
US space groups are waiting for the next steps that China will take with respect to the current events in Europe. Strict monitoring is followed for possible connections between the country and Russia, as considerations may not be favorable due to sanctions relayed by US and international allies following the Ukraine attacks.
On the other hand, Mars missions are still in their normal state. Each of the countries that expressed their interest in going to the red planet does not have any major shifts announced in the past few months.
Elon Musk, one of the tech giants of the time, also announced that their private firm SpaceX would soon commence missions to Mars by 2024. The company is known as the biggest collaborator of the US and NASA in space ventures to date.
China's Tianwen program is also setting up a series of three missions to Mars following the successful landing of the Tianwen 1 probe to the red planet in 2021.
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