As China presses ahead with a series of robotic lunar missions, its plans to begin a Mars exploration program could be delayed, a leading Chinese space scientist said March 31.
In a presentation at the National Research Council’s Space Science Week meeting here, Wu Ji, director general of the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the Chinese government had yet to formally approve a proposal for a robotic Mars mission tentatively scheduled for 2020.
“We are aiming at 2020, but still we don’t have the green light from the government” to proceed with the mission, Wu said. He said that ongoing government reforms were at the root of the delays, which he said put the schedule of the mission in question. “There’s nobody really in charge to accept this proposal.”
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