The Chinese space mission Tianewn-1 has reached Mars, marking the first success in the history of China in exploring the planet. Tianwen-1 includes a probe (orbiter) destined to remain in orbit around Mars and an automatic robot (rover) that, if everything goes as planned, it will reach Martian soil next May.
The insertion into the Martian orbit took place in the early afternoon and according to the Chinese Space Agency everything went as planned. In the next few days, the spacecraft will partially change its orbit and start making some observations of the planet. In late spring, it should then be the rover’s turn, with a risky maneuver to reach Martian soil and start exploration.
The rover has a mass of about 230 kilograms and is very reminiscent of Spirit and Opportunity, two of the most famous robots sent by NASA to Mars. The instruments on board the rover will allow you to take photographs, analyze the characteristics of the soil and go in search of frozen water.
To date, only the United States has managed to land some rovers on the Martian surface, overcoming the great difficulties in managing the landing of such bulky robots with automatic procedures. A success of China would be a further demonstration of the leap in quality of the Chinese space program in recent years, which at the end of 2020 made it possible to reach the Moon with a robot to take some samples, then brought back to Earth.
On February 18, meanwhile, it will be up to NASA to make its new Perseverance rover arrive on the planet, much larger and with more instruments than that of the Chinese debut on Mars.
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