Thu 11 February 2021:
A Chinese spacecraft has entered Mars’s orbit on a mission to land a rover and collect data on underground water and possible signs of ancient life.
“China’s probe Tianwen-1 successfully entered the orbit around Mars on Wednesday after a nearly seven-month voyage from Earth,” the Xinhua News Agency said.
If the landing is successful, the solar-powered rover will explore the Martian surface for 90 days, studying its soil and seeking signs of ancient life, including any sub-surface water and ice using a ground-penetrating radar.
Tianwen-1 will make China the first country to orbit, land and deploy a rover on its maiden mission to Mars, Chi Wang, head of the National Space Science Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in a research note.
Race to Mars
Amal, launched by the United Arab Emirates, successfully entered the planet’s orbit on Tuesday. It will not make a landing but will orbit Mars, gathering data on its weather and atmosphere.
The two probes join six other orbiting spacecraft above Mars launched by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and India.
In the United States’ most ambitious Mars mission, the one-tonne Perseverance probe is expected to arrive on February 18. It will immediately attempt a landing in a rocky depression with precipitous cliffs called Jezero Crater.
On the surface, Perseverance will gather rock samples for retrieval by a future mission. Two other NASA rovers – Curiosity and InSight – are currently operating on the planet’s surface.
Perseverance will also attempt to deploy a small helicopter named Ingenuity in the thin Martian atmosphere.
