Bolden, who visited China last December, said that the two countries already are working together, with the Congress' knowledge, in areas of earth science, such as in the study of the earth crustal deformation movement and glacial characterization of the Himalayas.

Chinese and NASA teams were working together in Nepal when the earthquake struck the past summer. They sprung into action by bringing the data from space to help the disaster relief, according to Bolden.

"So we are working cooperatively with our Chinese counterparts right now," he said.

Bolden's talk on Wednesday centered on the journey to Mars.

Rudy deLeon, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said CAP will soon produce a paper on the Mars mission. "It will include China," he said.

He said that unlike moon missions, which involve one country, the mission to Mars will truly be an international effort.

DeLeon also said it will take a step-by-step process to overcome opposition in the Congress, citing the fact that even the international space station has survived the recent tension among Europe, Russia and the US.

"So I think working in space together opens up new doors," he said.

China and the US agreed in June in their annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue to establish regular bilateral government-to-government consultations on civil space cooperation. The first China-US Civil Space Cooperation Dialogue, as part of the consensus of the S&ED, was held in Beijing in September.

China has a robust space program with international cooperation with many European countries. Under the program, China hopes to complete the construction of a space station by 2022.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com