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China’s Tianwen-1 space probe is set to enter orbit on Mars next month after traveling more than 400m km since its launch on July 23 of last year.
The probe has flown in space for 163 days and is currently about 8.3 million kilometers from Mars, according to China’s National Space Administration.
The flight marks the start of the country’s independent planetary exploration mission.
“The probe flies faster and faster as it comes out of the influence of heliocentric gravity,” said Li Zhencai, deputy commander of the project. “Right now the speed is broadly stable at around 22 km per second relative to Earth.”
This means that the probe covers approximately 1.8 km per day.
The spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover.
It is expected to land on Mars in May 2021, about three months after arriving in orbit of the Red Planet.
The distance between Mars and Earth changes periodically, going from 50 million kilometers at the nearest to 400 million kilometers at the furthest point.
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