China's ardor for a red planet(2)

NEXT STOP, THE RED PLANET

One year after putting Yutu on the moon, Mars has come over the horizon as the next destination.

Though China has no official plan for a Mars probe, Ouyang Ziyuan of China's lunar mission, let it slip that there are plans to land a rover on Mars around 2020.

Li Zhongbao, vice head of the China Academy of Space Technology, believes the plan is a reasonable one. Last month, a prototype of the Mars rover went on display at Airshow China 2014. While the rover's final look and functions are yet to be decided, the public has shown great enthusiasm for the Mars rover, including its name, shape and functions. The current preferred nickname is "Yutu's little brother."

More than 10 million people have followed an activity on the China Features website and Sina Weibo to name the rover. Among the suggestions, red rabbit, red bird, phoenix, and firefly are the most popular.

Wang Yijun, 9, from Beijing plumped for "Firefly" because, "it's tiny but could light up the dark sky."

Zhou Xiaosi from Xi'an chose "Yaowang," meaning "looking into the distance."

"The red planet and the earth look at each other from a long way. Human beings have been sending their best wishes to the twinkling star since ancient times," he said.

People have plenty of suggestions as to how the rover should look: it should be as cute as robot Walle; as cool as a Transformer; strong as Iron Man; and certainly much tougher than "Yutu." There are animals aplenty -- butterfly, beetle, spider, centipede, crab, turtle, octopus, even starfish. Most people vote red, gold and silver as its colors. Red and gold are big in China.

A STAR IS BORN

"A handsome rover could make a wonderful film star," Zhao Chen admitted, "but no matter what it looks like, we'll all love it!"

As to its functions, suggestions vary between the speculative and the outlandish: The Mars rover should be like a car and transform to a robot when navigating difficult terrain; The rover should be able to play music, which could be transmitted through the planet's atmosphere; The rover should... Some netizens give slightly more "professional" advice.

A windshield wiper could clean sand from its solar panel and a self-rescue mechanism is needed to prevent it from sinking into soft sand, Zhou Xiaosi says.

Song Yuhao hopes the rover will carry a balloon which, when filled with hydrogen, will take the rover flying.

"Every part of the rover should be able to work on its own, in case some malfunction affects the whole machine," Zhu Yunting says. Many hope the rover's battery could be recharged not only by solar power, but also wind or nuclear power.

"Our current concept has six wheels, like Yutu, but will be larger and better at dealing with obstacles," says Jia Yang. "Mars is littered with large rocks like the Gobi Desert. Dust storms will significantly lower usefulness of the solar battery. We must improve its adaptability to complex terrain."

Mars is humanity's first option for space migration. It needs a long period of devoted work, says Liu Cixin, a Chinese science fiction writer noted for "The Three-Body Problem."

"The longing for a new world flows in everyone's blood. It is the essence of being human," he adds.