Tianwen-1, China’s mission to Mars, has entered orbit

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Tianwen-1, whose name means “quest for celestial truth,” consists of an orbiter, lander, and a six-wheeled rover with scientific instruments, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA.)

The CNSA said it will collect important information about the geological structure, atmosphere, environment and soil of Mars and look for signs of water. The spacecraft is expected to land on Earth’s surface in May or June.

The Tianwen-1 makes China the sixth country in history to reach Mars.

Tianwen-1 launched last July, along with two other international Mars missions: NASA’s Perseverance rover and the United Arab Emirates Hope Probe.

All three missions launched around the same time due to an alignment between Mars and Earth on the same side of the Sun, allowing for a more efficient journey to the red planet.

NASA’s Perseverance rover is expected to land on Mars on Feb. 18.

The Chinese Tianwen-1 returns its first image of Mars
So far, the United States and the former Soviet Union are the only two countries to land a spacecraft on the surface of Mars. But the European Space Agency and India have previously sent spacecraft to orbit the planet – and on Tuesday the UAE joined their ranks, successfully orbiting its Hope Probe.

With Tianwen-1, China is the first country to attempt to send both an orbiter and a rover on its first homegrown Mars mission. According to the scientific team behind the mission, the probe will “on the very first attempt orbit, land and release a rover, and coordinate observations with an orbiter.”

In contrast, NASA sent multiple orbiters to Mars before ever attempting to land, as getting off the landing is a much more difficult task.

The Chinese rover is expected to stay for three months, hoping to gather important information about the planet.

China’s Space Ambitions

Wednesday’s news marks the latest success for China’s ambitious space industry, which has rapidly transformed in recent decades.

While Chinese authorities and state media have hailed Tianwen-1 as the country’s first mission to Mars, that’s not entirely true.

China’s first attempt to reach Mars was actually in 2011 with the Yinghuo-1 probe, which was to orbit the red planet and study its environmental structure. It was launched from Kazakhstan along with Russia’s Phobos-Grunt mission in November of that year.
But the mission failed, with a malfunction that left the probe in orbit shortly after launch. In 2012, the spacecraft re-entered Earth atmosphere and fell back to Earth, landing in the Pacific Ocean.
Mars is the newest arena in the US-China rivalry, with both countries launching probes this month

It was a disappointing blow to the country’s fledgling space program, which has historically lags behind other countries. Beijing only launched its first manned space flight in 2003, more than 40 years after NASA’s achievement.

But that has all changed in recent years.

Under President Xi Jinping, who took office in 2013, China has invested billions of dollars in its space program, sending space laboratories and satellites into orbit and landed three unmanned spacecraft on the moon.

The government has designated space as a national research priority, particularly deep space exploration and spacecraft in orbit. Increasingly, private Chinese companies are also investing in space research and technology.

In addition to the Tianwen-1 Mars mission, Beijing also plans to launch a permanent space station by 2022 and plans to send astronauts to the moon – possibly in the 2030s.

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