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The north pole of Mars, as imaged by the Tianwen-1 orbiter at an altitude of about 340 km (211 miles). Image via CNSA.
The National Space Administration of China (CNSA) released new images of the Tianwen-1 Mars mission earlier this month, March 4, 2021. The color image shows the north pole of Mars and the two images in black and white show other striking images. Characteristics of the surface of Mars, acquired by a separate high-definition camera capable of revealing details as small as 23 feet (7 meters).
The Tianwen-1 orbiter captured these images at an altitude above Mars of about 340 km. This is comparable to the height of the International Space Station above Earth (250 miles or 400 km).
Surface of Mars seen from Tianwen-1’s high-definition camera. The resolution of this image is 7 meters (23 feet). Image via CNSA.
Tianwen-1 is the first Mars exploration mission in China. It is named after an ancient Chinese poem meaning Heavenly questions. It was launched in July 2020 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province of China, kicking off the country’s planetary exploration program. This launch took place in the same launch window in July as two other missions, UAE Hope and NASA Perseverance. Tianwen-1 arrived in orbit around Mars on February 10, 2021, just a day after the Hope mission also successfully entered orbit around the Red Planet. Perseverance arrived and landed on the surface of Mars eight days later.
China thus became the sixth nation / organization to successfully reach our neighboring red planet, after the United States, India, the former Soviet Union, Europe (via the European Space Agency) and the Emirates. United Arabs.
Surface of Mars seen from Tianwen-1’s high-definition camera. Image via CNSA.
Like Perseverance, the Tianwen-1 probe has a lander that carries a rover, and it is scheduled to separate from the orbiter in May or June 2021, after three months in orbit. The lander is expected to land on a large plain called Utopia Planitia which is in Utopia, the largest impact basin in the solar system. This is also where one of the first Mars exploration missions, Viking 2, landed in 1976. After touchdown, the lander will unfold a ramp to release the rover, which will then roll towards the surface of Mars and will begin the next part. of the mission. If successful, China will be the second country to deploy a rover to Mars – the sixth rover after NASA’s five previous ones – and the third country, after the United States and the Soviet Union, to make a landing in softness on its surface.
The Tianwen-1 rover is smaller than Perseverance and weighs about 240 kg (530 pounds), or about a quarter of the Perseverance rover the size of an SUV. It has six wheels and four solar panels, and can move at a quiet speed of 200 meters per hour (just over a tenth of a mile per hour). During the planned three months of work on the surface of Mars, it will use its six instruments, which include a multispectral camera, ground-penetrating radar and a weather measurer, to collect data for its science goals.
Including both time in orbit and time on the surface, Tianwen-1’s scientific objectives include mapping the geology and morphology of Mars to produce surface maps, examine the composition of Martian soil, and explore the distribution of Martian water ice. It will also examine the atmosphere of Mars, in particular the ionosphere of the planet. You can find a long list of Tianwen-1’s mission objectives in this article on Nature Astronomy.
Conclusion: Images of the surface of Mars from China’s Tianwen-1 mission were released earlier this month.
Via CNSA
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