China To Further Develop Space Industry; Search For Extraterrestrial Life And Investigation Of The Solar System's Origin Will Be Conducted

China will be more visible in the space industry by 2020. The country's target is to become the first to soft land with the use of the probe on the far side of the Moon in 2018. As for the year 2020, the country would like to launch its first Mars probe.

"To explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build China into a space power is a dream we pursue unremittingly," reads a white paper setting out the country's space strategy for the next five years. It says China aims to use space for peaceful purposes and to guarantee national security and to carry out cutting edge scientific research, according to Phys.org.

The information office of China's Cabinet released a white paper titled China's Space Activities in 2016. The paper shows the goal of China in advancing its space program.

In a report by China.org.cn, the paper also stated that, "The Chinese government takes the space industry as an important part of the nation's overall development strategy. China has made great achievements since its space industry was established in 1956."

Meanwhile, the United States and Russia are more experienced in manned space travel. But the backed program of China's military has made a steady progress in a relatively short time.

The white paper added that "Over the past 60 years of remarkable development since its space industry was established in 1956. China has made great achievements in this sphere, including the development of atomic and hydrogen bombs, missiles, man-made satellites, manned spaceflight and lunar probes," Reuters reported.

In line with this, China has already made its first crewed space mission back in 2003. The country has already landed on the Moon using a rover in 2013. It has the first human to conduct a soft landing on the Moon since the 1970s. Not only that but it also had staged a spacewalk.

As follows, just last month, the two astronauts returned from their month-long stay aboard the China's Tiangong 2 experimental space station. It is the sixth longest crewed mission done by the country.

Phys.org added that the white paper repeated the plan of China to launch its first Mars probe by 2020. It states that it will allow the nation to explore and bring back samples from the Red Planet. Also, it will explore the Jupiter system and "conduct research into major scientific questions such as the origin and evolution of the solar system, and the search for extraterrestrial life."