A spaceship China unmanned successfully landed on the surface of Mars on Saturday (15/5). This landing made China the second space explorer country after United States of America who made it to the Red Planet.
The Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed at a site on a vast plain known as the Utopia Planitia, “leaving China’s mark on Mars for the first time,” the Xinhua News Agency was quoted as saying.
The plane left its orbit on Saturday (15/5) at around 01.00 Beijing time. The landing module separated from the orbiter three hours later and entered the Martian atmosphere, officials said China Space News.
Xinhua described the landing process as “nine minute terror” as the module slows down and then slowly descends.
A fleet of solar powered cruisers, named Zhurong, are remotely controlled to survey the landing site before departing from its platform for inspections. Named after the Chinese mystical god of fire, Zhurong has six scientific instruments including a high-resolution topographic camera.
The explorers will study the planet’s land surface and atmospheres. Zhurong will also look for signs of ancient life, including water and ice below the surface, using ground-penetrating radar.
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Tianwen-1, or “Questions to Heaven,” is taken from a Chinese poem written two millennia ago as China’s first independent mission to Mars. Previously, a probe co-launched with Russia in 2011 failed to leave Earth orbit.
The five-ton spacecraft launched from the southern Chinese island of Hainan in July last year, was launched by a powerful Long March 5 rocket.
After more than six months of transit, Tianwen-1 reached the Red Planet in February where it has been in orbit since then.
If Zhurong is successfully deployed, China will be the first country to orbit, land and release explorers on its maiden mission to Mars.
Tianwen-1 was one of three to reach Mars in February, with US rover Perseverance successfully landing on February 18 in a large depression called Jezero Crater, more than 2,000 km from Utopia Planitia.
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SPACE-EXPLORATION/CHINA-MARS (ANTARA FOTO/REUTERS/CNSA/Handout /FOC/dj)
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Hope – the third spacecraft to arrive on Mars in February this year – was not designed for landing. Launched by the United Arab Emirates, it is currently orbiting above Mars collecting data about its weather and atmosphere.
The first successful landings were made by NASA’s Viking 1 in July 1976 and then by Viking 2 in September of that year. A Mars probe launched by the former Soviet Union landed in December 1971, but communications were cut off seconds after the landing.
China is pursuing an ambitious space program. It is testing a reusable spacecraft and also plans to build a manned lunar research station.
In a commentary published on Saturday, Xinhua said China does not want to compete for leadership in space, but is committed to “exposing the secrets of the universe and contributing to mankind’s peaceful use of space.”
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