Date: 10-26-92 22:20

MARS A MULTINATIONAL TARGET from the Associated Press

Chinese-Russian team planning mission to red planet

BEIJING - Chinese and Russian scientists are preparing for a joint
mission to explore Mars and look for signs of life, an official
report said Sunday.
For the past two years, scientists from the Chinese Academy of
Sciences have been working with the Russian Academy of Sciences
researching and making high-altitude soundine balloons for detect-
ing cosmic rays and studying space environment, the official Xinhua
News Agency reported.
Yuri Sergeevich Osipov, the president of the Russian academy,
was quoted as saying they were preparing to launch a spacecraft in
1994 that will orbit Mars and collect data. A second launch in 1996
will land on the planet to explore its climate and geology and
search for signs of life.
The project has been dubbed Mars-96. France, Italy and the
United States also are working on the project, but Osipov did not
give details of their work.
The Soviet Union launched two Mars-bound spacecraft in 1988;
but both failed to reach the planet, the report said.
China's space technology has focused on satellite launches.
It has said it would launch an unmanned spacecraft by the year
2000, but few details of those plans have been reported.

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