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China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft successfully passed into orbit to Mars on Wednesday morning, the Chinese Space Administration confirmed. The arrival of the spacecraft makes China the sixth space power to reach the planet. It is also the second country this month to celebrate its first mission to Mars, arriving a day after the UAE’s Orbiter Hope entered Martian orbit on Tuesday morning.
Tianwen-1, which translates to ‘questions in the sky’ or ‘interrogation of the heavens’, is a five-ton beam rover, lander and orbiter that was launched from Wenchang in southern China in July from last year. China was one of three countries to use a narrow window of around two months to launch a spacecraft to Mars when it was closely aligned with Earth in their orbits around the Sun – an alignment that does not occur once every two years.
Chinese state media confirmed Wednesday morning that Tianwen-1 had successfully braked to orbit Mars after traveling a total of 295 million kilometers. The Tianwen-1’s orbital drive motor ignited at 6:52 a.m.ET and fired for 15 minutes to rapidly slow to cruising speed for gradual orbital insertion.
“Exploring the vast universe is the common dream of all mankind. We will sincerely cooperate and go hand in hand with countries around the world to take humanity’s space exploration further, ”Zhang Kejian, director of the China National Space Administration, said on Wednesday.
The spacecraft has settled into an orbit that will bring it within 248 miles of the Martian surface, where it will spend a few months surveying its landing site in the Utopia Planitia region. In May, the lander and rover will detach from the spacecraft and make a bold attempt to land in Utopia Planitia, where a large deposit of water ice lies beneath the planet’s surface. If successful, China will become the second country, after the United States, to land and operate a rover on the Martian surface.
The Tianwen-1 landing attempt was originally scheduled for April, but China’s National Space Administration said it was changed in May or June. The landing site is approximately 1,147 miles – roughly the drive from Miami to New York – from the target site of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which will attempt a landing on February 18.
With the Tianwen-1 rover on Mars and an orbiter that scans from above, China sets out to trace the distribution of groundwater ice to better understand the geological structure of the planet. The lander is essentially a delivery platform, providing a ramp for the rover to roll over and traverse Martian terrain, where it will also analyze water ice as a potential resource for long-term human missions to Mars. , according to News.
China’s first trip to Mars comes as Beijing steps up its role in space exploration. As Tianwen-1 flew to Mars, the country went to the moon and returned with its Chang’e 5 flash sample return mission, the fifth mission of China’s lunar exploration program and its first mission to bring lunar dirt back to Earth.
Tianwen-1’s successful jump into orbit on Mars drew applause from NASA and the European Space Agency. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s top scientist, congratulated China and said: “There is much to discover about the mysteries of Mars and we look forward to your contributions!”
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