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The Chinese space agency is releasing video footage two days after its Mars probe successfully entered orbit of the Red Planet.
The Chinese space agency has released video footage of its spacecraft circling Mars, two days after it successfully entered orbit the planet’s orbit during Beijing’s latest ambitious space mission.
In the video, posted by the state-owned CCTV broadcaster, the planet’s surface is seen from a dark sky over the exterior of Tianwen-1, which entered the orbit of the Red Planet on Wednesday.
White craters are visible on the planet’s surface, which fades from white to black throughout the video as the probe flies over a Martian day, state news agency Xinhua said.
The 5,000-kilogram (five-ton) Tianwen-1 – which translates to “Questions in Heaven” – includes a Mars orbiter, lander and solar-powered rover and launched from southern China last July.
This is the latest step in Beijing’s space program, which aims to establish a manned space station by 2022 and ultimately put an astronaut on the moon, and has opened a new alien arena for US-Chinese competition. .
Signs of past life
Tianwen-1 launched around the same time as a rival US mission and is expected to land on the planet’s surface in May.
Its success comes the same week that the United Arab Emirates’ Hope probe also successfully entered Mars orbit, marking history as the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.
Chinese scientists hope to land a 240 kilogram (529 pound) rover in May in Utopia, a huge impact basin on Mars. Its orbiter will last a Martian year.
For the three-month study of the planet’s soil and atmosphere, the mission will take photos, graphical maps, and look for signs of past life.
The probe has already returned its first image of Mars – a black-and-white photo showing geological features, including the Schiaparelli Crater and the Valles Marineris, a vast expanse of canyons on the Martian surface.
Mars has proven to be a tough target, with most missions since 1960 sent from Russia, Europe, Japan and India ending in failure.
NASA’s Perseverance, set to land on the Red Planet on February 18, will become the fifth rover to complete the trip since 1997 – and so far all are Americans.
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