China’s space agency China National Space Agency (CNSA) states that their Mars spacecraft Tianwen-1 has now photographed the entire surface of Mars.
Tianwen-1 left Earth in the summer of 2020 and arrived on the red planet in the spring of 2021. Since then, Tianwen has been in orbit at the same time as the satellite cameras photographed the surface of Mars. According to the CNSA, Tianwen-1 took 1344 revolutions around Mars to create a complete picture of the planet’s surface.
CNSA reports that it has shared data from Tianwen-1 with the US space agency NASA and their European counterpart ESA. It is also stated that it plans to share the data from Tianwen-1 with international researchers later without stating when this can happen.
In the feature from the South China Morning Post above, you can check out some of the photos from Mars that Tianwen-1 took in the past year.
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Science, Space,
china, tianwen-1, zhurong, mars, cnsa
Now China is going to Mars
Tianwen-1 will be there in February
The other day, a spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates headed for the planet Mars, and today China also sent a spacecraft there. Unlike the United Arab Emirates, China also intends to land on the red planet, the United Arab Emirates is “content” to put its spacecraft into orbit around the planet when it is expected to arrive there in February. Early this morning, China launched a Tianwen-1 spacecraft, also known as the “Questions to Heaven”, using a domestic Long March 5 rocket from the Chinese space base Wenchang. If all goes well, Tianwen-1 will arrive at Mars in February. There it will enter orbit around the planet and two to three months after that it is thought that the six-wheeled rover will land on the surface of Mars. Should China succeed in landing on Mars, it will be the third country to succeed. The United States has previously made eight successful landings on Mars, while the Soviet Union made two in the 1970s.
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Tianwen-1 sends home a picture of Mars
China will soon land on the red planet for the first time
China’s Mars spacecraft Tianwen-1 is now approaching the red planet. Ahead of that, China’s space agency CSNA has released a black image of Mars that the spacecraft photographed when it was about 2.2 million kilometers away from the planet. Tianwen-1 left Earth in July last year and is expected to enter Mars’ orbit this Wednesday. Sometime in May, it is thought that you will try to land on the planet and land a rover. It will begin exploring an area called Utopia Planitia located in the northern hemisphere of Mars. The coming weeks will be exciting for Mars fans, as the United Arab Emirates’ Hope spacecraft will also arrive shortly, as well as NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft.
43.6 °
China has made its first Mars landing
Hope it does not clash with Perseverance
Tonight, China’s spacecraft Zhurong succeeded in the feat of leaving the Tianwen-1 spacecraft and landing on Mars. Zhurong has a small rover in him that will leave the probe in a few days to explore the more icy part of the planet known as Utopia Planitia. The idea is that the rover will go around collecting data for about three months.
38.0 °
One of China’s Mars spacecraft sends home some selfies
From when it passes over Mars’ north pole
One of the craft belonging to the Chinese Mars mission Tianwen-1 has sent home some selfies that you can check out here. The photos show the Tianwen-1 spacecraft that has been in orbit around Mars since the beginning of 2021. The photos were taken by a mobile camera released from the satellite. In addition to the satellite itself, parts of Mars’ North Pole can also be seen in the images above and below. China’s Tianwen-1 mission consists of a total of six spacecraft. In addition to the satellite in orbit around the planet, it also includes three mobile cameras, a Mars lander and the crown jewel Zhurong, the Chinese rover that was landed on Mars in May last year.
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