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The Chinese space agency released a pair of spectacular video clips from “selfie” cameras aboard the country’s Tianwen 1 spacecraft as it braked in orbit around Mars on February 10.
One of the videos shows Tianwen 1’s high-gain directional antenna shaking from vibrations caused by the spacecraft’s main engine, which fired for 15 minutes to slow the probe enough to be captured in orbit by Martian gravity. .
Another clip from a different camera is pointed at one of the two wings of the spacecraft’s solar power generator.
These time-lapse videos from the Chinese Tianwen 1 mission show the craft’s arrival on Mars on February 10.
The first clip shows the vibrations of the main engine of Tianwen 1 on the directional antenna of the probe during the critical orbit insertion maneuver.
Learn more: https://t.co/QW3n3YOAg1 pic.twitter.com/jMVMqZXSmx
– Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) February 15, 2021
The Martian horizon, appearing with the planet’s razor thin atmosphere, is visible in both black and white. Time-lapse videos also show features of the Martian surface, such as mountains and craters, as Tianwen 1 passed just a few hundred kilometers above the Red Planet.
China’s National Space Administration posted the videos on its website and through the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
The Tianwen 1 probe is the first Chinese spacecraft to reach Mars. The ambitious mission consists of three spacecraft, with an orbiter, a lander and a rover riding together for the seven-month journey to the Red Planet.
Tianwen 1 launched a Long 5 March rocket last July, the most powerful launcher in Chinese inventory. Since arriving on Mars last week, Tianwen 1 has maneuvered from an equatorial orbit to a polar orbit using another major fire from its main engine of 674 pounds of thrust.
The Chinese space agency said the orbit adjustment burn, also known as the plane change maneuver, occurred at around 9:00 a.m. GMT (4:00 a.m. EST) on Monday to put the Tianwen 1 spacecraft into a polar orbit. with a periastron, or at low altitude, of 265 kilometers. ) above Mars.
Chinese officials said the mission will perform additional orbit adjustment maneuvers before preparing for the separation of the lander and the Tianwen 1 rover to attempt a descent to the surface of the Red Planet in May or June.
Read our previous story for more details on the mission.
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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
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