It’s almost all systems go for the first Chinese exploration project to Mars in 2020--at least in terms of its name and logo. China recently unveiled a shortlist of names and logos for the space mission, with the voting public eventually choosing the winner.
CNN reported that the China National Space Administration (CNSA) aims to send a probe in orbit around Mars while running fully functioning senders and rovers on the Red Planet's surface by 2020. The agency, alongside China's Lunar and Deep Space exploration, currently hosts the name and logo contest.
China's Mars exploration project deputy chief commander Liu Jizhong said via CCTV that more than 35,000 names and around 7,000 logos were received for the contest. Most of the submissions include themes related to Chinese culture, space exploration, and humanism.
The names in the shortlist mostly feature beasts and figures typical of Chinese mythological themes, alongside those that relate to the nature of space exploration. GB Times provided a list of the shortlisted names:
- Fenghuang (phoenix)
- Tianwen (study of heaven)
- Huoxing (Mars)
- Tenglong (flying dragon)
- Qilin (a legendary chimera-like creature)
- Zhuque (a mythical bird)
- Zhuimeng (chasing dreams)
- Fengxiang (flying phoenix)
Most of the eight logos featured design themes revolving around the Chinese character for "fire," creating rocket-like figures that point upwards. The characters for the Chinese name for Mars literally translate to "fire star," owing to the planet's reddish color.
China's foray into the space race came relatively late compared to the programs the U.S. and Russia launched way back during the Cold War era. Nonetheless, the country has since backed its national space program with billion-dollar investments for training and research.
The unmanned mission to Mars aims to apply lessons from many of China's successful space experiments since 2003. Among those endeavors include a rover landing on the moon, the establishment of a space lab meant to support a full-scale space station, and the launching of five space crews.
Watch CCTV America's report on the unveiling of China's 2020 Mars probe below: