China is working on a mission to land a rover on Mars by 2020 aiming to become a global aerospace power by 2030. China’s National Space Administration envisages a joint China-US cooperation on a Mars rescue mission, as depicted in the Hollywood blockbuster “The Martian,” where the agency saved both NASA and Matt Damon from an awful situation. Shanghai Daily reports: Announced in January, the Mars voyage will attempt to recreate the success of the United States’ Viking 1 mission that landed a rover on the Red Planet four decades ago. “What we would like to do is orbit Mars, make a landing, and rove around for reconnaissance in one mission, which is quite a challenge,” China National Space Administration head Xu Dazhe told a news conference. “This is a project that has attracted much attention from both the science and space fields,” he said. China will also explore civilian uses of space technology in areas such as navigation, remote sensing and communications, and seek international collaborations, he said. Since conducting its first manned mission on a Chinese-built Shenzhou spacecraft in 2003, China has launched an experimental space station called the Tiangong 1, staged a spacewalk and landed its Yutu rover [...]