A Chinese unmanned spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Mars on Saturday (15/5). Government news agency Xinhua reported that the landing makes China the second space explorer country after the United States to land on the Red Planet.
The Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed at a location on a vast plain known as the Utopia Planitia, “leaving China’s mark on Mars for the first time,” Xinhua said.
The plane left its orbit on Saturday (15/5) at around 01.00 Beijing time. The China Space News official said the landing module separated from the orbiter three hours later and entered the Martian atmosphere.
A solar-powered rover, named Zhurong or the Chinese god of fire, will survey the landing site before leaving its platform for inspection. Zhurong has six scientific instruments, including a high-resolution topographic camera.
The rover studied the land surface and atmospheres of planets. Zhurong will also look for signs of life, including water and subsurface ice using ground-penetrating radar.
Tianwen-1, or means “Questions to Heaven” taken from a Chinese poem written two thousand years ago, is China’s first independent mission to Mars. A probe co-launched with Russia in 2011 failed to leave Earth orbit.
The five-ton spacecraft launched from Hainan Island in southern China in July 2020, was launched on a very powerful Long March 5 rocket.
After more than six months of transit, Tianwen-1 reached the Red Planet in February and has been orbiting since then.
If Zhurong’s deployment is successful, China will be the first country to orbit, land and release a rover on its maiden mission to Mars. [ah/mg]
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