8 January 2016, 07:38 GMT
BEIJING (Sputnik) — Ye Peijian, the chief designer of the country’s state lunar exploration mission, said that Mars makes a close approach to Earth every 28 months, presenting a short window of opportunity for a probe launch.
"We will not make it by 2018 but we can try to launch a probe in 2020," Ye Peijian was quoted by the Sina news website as saying.
The scientist said earlier that China had all the technology it needed for a successful launch.
China has been eyeing the Red Planet after it put a rover on the Moon in 2013. Its ambitious space program also includes a permanent space station and manned flights to the Moon and Mars.
