China's space probe captures first image of Mars

Beijing

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has released the image of Mars captured by Tianwen-1, Xinhua reported on Friday.

The probe conducted its fourth orbital correction on Friday at 8 pm, aiming to ensure that the probe achieves a sound planned rendezvous with Mars. The probe has travelled about 197 days in orbit, flying about 465 million km.

It is currently 184 million km from Earth and 1.1 million km from Mars. All probe systems are in good working condition, the CNSA said.

China launched the Mars probe on July 23, 2020 on a Long March-5 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft launch site in south China's Hainan province. The Tianwen-1 probe, weighing about 5 tonnes, consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover.

The probe completed its first orbital correction on August 2, its second on September 20 and its third on October 28 last year. It is set to enter Mars orbit on February 10. After entering the Mars orbit, it will spend around three months surveying potential landing sites, using a high-resolution camera to prepare for the landing in May.

The most challenging part of the mission will be the soft landing, an autonomous process of the probe lasting seven to eight minutes, according to the CNSA.

The probe will use its aerodynamic shape, parachute and retrorocket to decelerate and buffer legs to touch down.

After the landing, the rover will be released to conduct scientific exploration with an expected lifespan of at least 90 Martian days (about three months on Earth), and the orbiter, with a design life of one Martian year (about 687 days on Earth), will relay  communications for the rover while conducting its own scientific detection.

Tianwen-1 means 'Questions to Heaven' and comes from a poem written by Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC), one of the greatest poets of ancient China.