The Chinese spacecraft Tianwen-1 successfully entered Mars orbit Wednesday morning, the China National Space Administration confirmed. The probe’s arrival makes China the sixth spaceflight force to reach the planet. It is also the second country this month to celebrate its first Mars mission, arriving a day after the UAE’s Hope orbiter entered Mars orbit Tuesday morning.
Tianwen-1, which translates to “ask in the sky” or “ask in the sky”, is a five-ton bundle of a rover, lander and orbiter launched from Wenchang in southern China last July. China was one of three countries to use a narrow window of about two months to launch spacecraft to Mars, as it was closely aligned with the Earth in their orbits around the sun – an alignment that occurs only once every two years.
Chinese state media confirmed on Wednesday morning that Tianwen-1 completed a successful braking maneuver to enter Mars orbit after traveling a total of 295 million miles. Tianwen-1’s orbital control engine ignited at 6:52 a.m. ET and fired for 15 minutes to rapidly slow its cruising speed for gradual orbital insertion.
Exploring the vast universe is the common dream of all humanity. We will sincerely work together and go hand in hand with countries around the world to continue humanity’s exploration of space, ”Zhang Kejian, director of the China National Space Administration, said in a statement Wednesday.
The spacecraft settled in orbit that will bring it within 400 kilometers of the surface of Mars, where it will spend a few months investigating its landing site in the Utopia Planitia region. In May, the lander and rover will detach from the spacecraft and make a daring attempt to land in Utopia Planitia, where a large deposit of water ice lies beneath the Earth’s surface. If successful, China will become the second country, after the US, to land and operate a rover on the surface of Mars.
The Tianwen-1 landing attempt was originally scheduled for April, but the China National Space Administration indicated it was changed in May or June. The landing site is about 1,147 miles – roughly the drive from Miami to New York – from the target site of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which will attempt to land on Feb. 18.
With the Tianwen-1 rover on Mars and an orbiter scanning from above, China is looking for the distribution of water ice below the surface to gain a better understanding of the planet’s geological structure. The lander is essentially a delivery platform, providing a ramp for the rover to roll off the terrain of Mars and traverse it, where it claims SpaceNews.
China’s first trek to Mars comes when Beijing steps up its role in space exploration. As Tianwen-1 flew to Mars, it went land to the moon and back with its whirlwind Chang’e 5 monster return mission, the fifth mission in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program and the first mission to return lunar debris to Earth.
Tianwen-1’s successful jump into orbit around Mars garnered applause from NASA and the European Space Agency. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s top science officer, congratulated China and said “there is much to discover about the mysteries of Mars and we look forward to your contributions!”