Now the world’s population is growing faster and faster. There will soon be no room on the Earth for more people, so more and more countries, including China, send spacemen to develop the space as human’s second home in the future.

But space is not only amazing but also dangerous. While working in space, spacemen are facing danger as well as success.

Scientists have found out that radiation is the greatest danger to spacemen in space. When spacemen are working in space, they are in danger of radiation from the Sun and other stars, which is bad for their health.

Space junk is also thought to be a great danger to spacemen. It’s reported that there are 9,000 man-made things flying in space. About 30% of these are satellites, 10% are spaceships, and the rest are space junk. These junks are flying in space. They may knock against spaceship windows and do some damage. Scientists are watching and reporting any possible danger all the time. They are working on helpful ways to deal with space junk.

So we should care for space and do something to help improve the space environment.

Scientists think that there has been life on the earth for hundreds of millions of years. However, we have not found life on any other planets yet.

The earth is a planet and it goes around the sun. Seven other planets also go around the sun. None of them has an environment like that of the earth, so scientists do not think they will find life on them. The sun and its planets are called the solar system, and our solar system is a small part of much larger group of stars and planets, called the Galaxy or the Milky Way. There are billions of stars in the Galaxy, and our sun is only one of them.

Scientists have also discovered many other galaxies in the universe. They are very far away and their light has to travel for many years to reach us. So how large is the universe? It is impossible to imagine.

Scientists have sent spaceships to the planet Mars to take photos. They have even sent spaceships to travel outside the solar system. However, no spaceship has travelled far enough to reach other stars in our Galaxy.

Scientists have always asked the questions: with so many stars in the universe, are we alone, or is there life out there in space? Have there been visitors to the earth from other planets? Why has no one communicated with us? We do not know the answers... yet.

Thousands of years ago, Chinese poet Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC) wrote the poem Tianwen, meaning Quest for Heavenly Truth. He came up with a series of questions about the sky, stars, nature, myths and the world around us. The poem showed his doubts about traditional ideas and the spirit of finding the truth.

Inspired by the great poet, China has named its upcoming series of planetary exploration missions (行星探测任务) after the poem. The first one in the series-a Mars exploration mission-has been named Tianwen 1, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on April 24, China’s Space Day. This shows China’s desire (渴望) to explore the universe and discover its secrets.

China has been making great progress in space exploration. As early as 1970, China launched its first man-made Earth satellite (卫星), becoming the fifth country in the world to launch a man-made satellite independently. Since 2003, China has carried out six Shenzhou manned missions and launched two space labs into Earth’s orbit (轨道). China’s moon exploration missions-the Chang’e series-started in 2007. In December 2018, China became the first country to send the probe (探测器) Chang’e 4 to the moon’s far side, which always faces away from Earth.

The Tianwen series will follow the Shenzhou and Chang’e series and move further into space. The first step is to launch a Mars probe this year, which will mark the start of China’s exploration of the Red Planet. The probe is expected to orbit (绕……轨道运行), land on and explore Mars in one mission. If it succeeds, it will be the first to complete all of these tasks in one mission. The Long March 5 rocket will send the probe to Mars. It will take seven months to reach the planet and land.

After this mission, China plans to visit Mars again in 2028, aiming to collect soil from the surface of the planet and bring it to Earth. Around 2030, China will explore Jupiter and several asteroids (小行星), according to CNSA.