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China’s Mars probe, Tianwen-1, has been hanging around parked orbiting Mars for nearly two full months now, preparing for its rover to land in May.
But it’s not just a matter of staying in orbit spinning its antennas. The probe watches the planet, spins closer, checks the mission’s chosen rover landing site – and returns amazing images of our dusty planetary friend.
On March 16 and 18, the spacecraft took two panoramic photographs with its medium-resolution camera of a crescent of Mars seen from its far side, with the Sun behind it, at a distance of approximately 11,000 kilometers (6,835 miles). .
(CNSA)
From this distance, the surface features are visible, different colored streaks across the face of Mars, as well as a slight hazy outline – the thin but dusty atmosphere of the planet coils like a delicate shell.
Mars is the most visited planet in the solar system, but we don’t know much about it yet. With eight orbiters currently in service (including Tianwen-1 and the Hope Orbiter from the United Arab Emirates, also arriving in February this year), as well as two rovers and a lander, new discoveries are constantly being made.
Tianwen-1 carries a lander and rover that will land in the Utopia Planitia, in the Utopia impact basin on the northern Martian hemisphere. It is a large lava plain, under which large amounts of ice have been found, and which scientists say once housed an ocean before Mars lost its liquid surface water.
Exploring this region, believes China’s National Space Administration, could provide vital clues that could help us piece together the planet’s mysterious history even further.
A date has not yet been set for the landing, but it is slated for mid-May, according to a speech by Chi Wang of the Chinese Academy of Scientists at Space Science Week 2021.
Once the rover is released, the orbiter will continue to circle the planet, making its own observations and serving as a communication relay between Earth and Mars.
Hopefully in the years to come we’ll see a lot more photos like these.
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