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China has indicated that the “Tianwen-1” probe, which was launched last July, is orbiting Mars because it aims to place a robot on the planet’s surface.
China’s “Xinhua” news agency The probe, which was launched from southern China’s Hainan Island, successfully entered its assigned orbit around Mars, according to the report. AFP reported.
China is seeking to land an explorer on Mars to collect data on groundwater and possibly signs of ancient life, according to state media.
“The Chinese probe, Tianwen-1, successfully entered orbit around Mars on Wednesday after a journey that took about 7 months from Earth,” Xinhua said in a brief statement.
The Chinese probe and explorer thus became the second vehicle to reach Mars in two days, preceded by the United Arab Emirates’ “hope probe”, which made its way into orbit around Mars on Tuesday.
And next week, the United States will attempt to land its explorer “Perseverance” on the surface of Mars, according to the Associated Press.
The United States is the only one to have managed to land 8 times on Mars, starting with two “Viking” missions.
It should be noted that the three missions to Mars were launched last July to exploit the proximity of the planet to the Earth, which only happens once every two years.
China’s mission is the most ambitious to date, and if the “Tianwen-1” mission succeeds in landing a robot on the surface of Mars, it will make China the first country in the world to be able to reach orbit. of this planet, the earth on its surface and a robot landing on it during its first mission to the red planet, said Qi Wang, director of the National Center for Space Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a research note, according to AFP.
If all goes according to plan, the explorer will separate from the craft in a few months and attempt to touch the surface of Mars, and if it does, China will become the second country in the world to succeed.
This is a further step in China’s ambitious space program, which aims to establish a manned space station by 2022 and send astronauts to the moon.
China has spent billions of dollars on space exploration missions as Beijing tries to bolster its global reputation and great technological power.
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