China plans to carry out a deep-space exploration including two Mars missions and one Jupiter probe, state-backed Xinhua News agency reported.

According to Wu Yanhua, China National Space Administration's vice director, China intends to land its very first Mars spacecraft by the end of the decade. Then it plans to send a second Mars probe that will bring back samples and carry out research on the red planet's structure.

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Aside from its planned Mars expedition, the country also wants to explore the asteroid and conduct a fly-by of the Jupiter system, the China National Space Administration announced on Monday.

China also recently announced a short list of eight names set to join China's Mars mission.

"Fenghuang" (phoenix), "Tianwen" (questions for heaven), "Huoxing" (Mars), "Tenglong" (soaring dragon), "Qilin" (Kylin), "Zhuque (rose finch), "Zhuimeng" (chasing dreams), and "Fengxiang" (flying phoenix) were all chosen from the more than 35,000 names sent from different countries.

Last September, China sent its Tiangong-2 space lab to space to a preset orbit of 393 kilometers above the Earth's surface. It docked on Oct. 19 with the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, which carried two astronauts.

According to the BRICS Post, the astronauts carried out work on a permanent life support system that will be part of the country's future space station, which is expected to come into operation in five years' time.

China is eyeing to become a space power by 2030 with an advanced and open aerospace industry and space infrastructure. It has allocated billions of dollars over the past decade to compete with other space program leaders like the US and Russia, as well as Asian rivals such as India and Japan.

Based on a white paper of space activities issued in 2016, key aerospace projects slated to be ready by the end of the decade include the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, the Gaofen (High Resolution) observation satellite program, lunar probes, and manned space programs.