China is setting up increasingly ambitious goals regarding space exploration. After Chang'e 4 landed on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, the country is already planning its next space excursion -- Mars 2020.
Ye Peijian, a famous Chinese academician on information processing and space vehicle, said that the development of asteroid resources would be one of the future direction for space development. He said, “In China, we can implement demonstration projects in 10 years if we want to. It will take about 50 years to achieve mass mining.”