What Life Will Be Like In China's Mars Colony

 What Life Will Be Like In China's Mars Colony

China’s historic attempt     Nestled among the crimson dunes of China’s Gobi Desert, a warren of domes and squat white buildings rises from the parched earth. Inside is a research and educational facility for budding astronauts — and the latest manifestation of Beijing’s bid to position itself as a leading space power.

“Mars Base 1,” built by private Chinese company C-Space, is like a space station on Earth, boasting an airlock, greenhouse, gymnasium, living quarters and control room. Solar-powered buggies and lunar probes scour the red dust landscape of northeastern Gansu province, whose barren expanses bear an eerie resemblance to the Red Planet, which China is planning to visit next year.

Visitors experience what life is like on a real space mission, from rearing crops under an ultraviolet glow in soilless science labs to clambering around in bulky space suits. Barley worms are even grown for protein in lieu of rearing animals. “I’m very excited to see this place,” says student Zhang Huan, 12, who’s touring the facility. “If China can be the first to land humans on Mars, it will inspire everyone throughout the country.”

It was perhaps only a matter of time before the Celestial Empire reached for the stars. China’s government has made conquering space a key strategic priority, with the nation’s reported $8 billion space budget second only to the U.S., according to the Space Foundation, an American non-profit.

Chinese scientists were early pioneers of rudimentary rockets back in the year 900, though only launched its first Long March rocket in 1970 on the back of Soviet technology, sending a human into space in 2003. Now, it’s making fast progress. In January, China broke new ground by landing its Chang’e 4 lunar lander on the far side of the moon, which, due to the moon’s synchronous, tidally locked rotation, remains constantly hidden from Earth. There, China’s Jade Rabbit 2 rover was able to transmit data back to Earth via a satellite previously deployed around the moon to establish a radio link. In another first, a cotton seed was germinated onboard the Chang’e 4, which is named after China’s mythical moon goddess. After the mission, Chinese President Xi Jinping praised the “outstanding feats” that had “set a model for the whole [Chinese Communist] Party, the whole armed forces and people of all ethnic groups in China.”

Such backing from the top underscores the scale of China’s ambitions. China already has the largest filled-aperture radio telescope in the world, which measures just over 1,640 feet across. Other than visiting Mars, China plans to send probes to asteroids, Jupiter and even Uranus. It also aims to build a scientific research station in the moon’s southern polar region, as well as establish its own sophisticated large-scale space station within 10 years. “They have a strategic, long-term set of goals and work deliberately and systematically to achieve those goals,” says Kathy Laurini, who served as NASA’s senior advisor for Exploration and Space Operations, among other roles, during 36 years with the American space agency.

Satellite launches are a priority, too. China had 38 launches last year, more than any other country, as it attempts to catch up with the West’s satellite infrastructure. And last month, China launched a rocket from a mobile platform in the Yellow Sea for the first time, sending five commercial satellites and two others containing experimental technology into orbit. The feat meant China is only the third country after the U.S. and Russia to master sea launches.

The speed at which China is surpassing each technological hurdle spotlights how the Beijing government views space as vital for boosting the economy and promoting high-end industry and spill-off technologies. “They see space as a very important driver for growth and competitiveness going forward,” says Andrew Jones, a journalist specializing in China’s space program.

Still, space is never smooth sailing. The past two launch attempts of China’s Long March 5 rocket needed to be aborted because of oxygen supply malfunctions, according to officials Unless those glitches are quickly ironed out, China may loose the 2020 launch win