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China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter and rover appear to be in trouble

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HELSINKI — The two spacecraft making up China’s first interplanetary mission are both suffering issues, with the rover potentially lost on the surface after winter hibernation.

The Zhurong Mars rover has been hibernating on the Martian surface since May 18 last year and was expected to resume activity in December, around the time of the Spring equinox in the northern hemisphere.

However no announcement of establishing contact with the rover has been made. The South China Morning Post reported Jan. 7, citing sources that do not wish to be named, that teams on Earth have yet to receive a signal from Zhurong.

The Zhurong rover landed in Mars’s Utopia Planitia region in May 2021 but entered a period of hibernation to ride out winter, when both temperatures and solar radiation levels are too low for the solar-powered rover to operate. 

The rover was expected to autonomously resume activities once it can generate sufficient energy from solar power and when temperatures reach around minus 15 degrees Celsius.

Zhurong entered hibernation when local temperatures were around minus 20 degrees, according to the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, after the autumn equinox in late February. Conditions should already by more favorable following the Spring equinox on Dec. 26. Mars has an axial tilt of around 25 degrees, meaning it has has similar seasonal variations to Earth during its orbit around the sun. 

While there has so far been no official comment, the rover may have been impacted by sand storms in the area, which could reduce the levels of energy generation. The Tianwen-1 orbiter noted storms around the landing area in March and April 2021.

Zhurong has active means of removing dust from its four butterfly wing solar arrays, but would be unable to perform this operation while hibernating. The arrays also have an anti-dust coating and can tilt to maximize light collection. 

Zhurong had a primary mission lifetime of three Earth months but operated for just over one Earth year in Utopia Planitia, traveling at least 1,921 meters south from its landing site. It was seeking out geomorphologic targets such as mud volcanoes during its extended mission.

The rover has returned detailed insights into the local layered subsurface with its ground-penetrating radar and discovered evidence of relatively recent aqueous activity in the area. The rover landing was also used by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson as a warning to Congress as to China’s competitive threat to American leadership in human spaceflight.

Meanwhile the Tianwen-1 orbiter has been tasked with assessing the area and attempting to contact the rover. Teams are however also having trouble receiving data from the orbiter, according to SCMP.

Radio amateurs have also noted issues with attempts for ground stations to lock onto the orbiter. 

Tianwen-1 was scheduled to conduct aerobraking tests late last year as part of preparation for a Mars sample return mission potentially launching later this decade. It is unknown if the tests have been conducted and potentially impacted the orbiter. Chinese space authorities have yet to comment on the situation. 

The Tianwen-1 orbiter was initially used to assess the pre-selected landing zones for Zhurong. It was then used primarily as a communications relay for Zhurong during the rover’s primary mission phase, before then switching to focus more on its own science objectives.

It completed a mapping of the Martian surface with a medium-resolution camera by June 2022, and also completed its assigned goals for its six science payloads.

China launched its Tianwen-1 mission to Mars in July 2020 with the combination of the Tianwen-1 orbiter and Zhurong rover entering Mars orbit in February 2021. 

Both Tianwen-1 and Zhurong had entered a standby mode in 2021 when the Earth and Mars were orbiting at opposite sides of the sun, causing a communications blackout.

China plans to launch the Tianwen-2 joint near-Earth asteroid sample-return and main belt comet rendezvous mission around 2025.



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China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission wins international space award

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China’s Tianwen 1 Mars mission has been awarded one of the spaceflight world’s most prestigious awards.

The Tianwen 1 spacecraft lifted off from Wenchang spaceport on July 23, 2020 and entered Mars orbit in February 2021. The mission’s solar-powered Zhurong rover then successfully landed in the Red Planet’s Utopia Planitia plain in May that year.

The mission carried out a historic first-ever combined orbiting, landing and roving in a single launch, earning the mission the International Astronautical Federation’s annual space achievement award on Sunday (Sept. 18) during the 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris.

Related: The latest news about China’s space program 

International Astronautical Federation (IAF) President Pascale Ehrenfreund introduced the team behind the development of the spacecraft at a highlight lecture at this year’s IAC. 

Jilian Wang, vice president at the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) that developed the spacecraft, presented an overview of the mission and outlined some of the major scientific achievements so far in a highlight lecture, including a global mapping of the Red Planet and a returning data offering evidence for an ancient Martian ocean.

Wang also noted visual highlights from the mission, including Mars orbit selfies and orbital insertion videos.

Tianwen 1 is continuing its extended science missions in Mars orbit, but down on the surface the Zhurong rover is currently hibernating to see out the winter in Mars’s northern hemisphere. 

The 530-pound (240 kilograms) solar-powered rover is currently expected to wake up and resume activities in December or January, when more solar energy reaches Mars, a mission team member said during a question and answer session.

China is also looking to follow up its Mars success with an ambitious mission to collect samples from Mars and deliver them to Earth. The mission is named Tianwen 3 and will involve a pair of Long March 5 launches — China’s largest rocket — around 2028 to send landing and orbiter spacecraft to the Red Planet. 

Before this, the country aims to conduct its first asteroid sample-return mission with Tianwen 2, launching around 2025.

The missions are also likely to be open to international cooperation. “We wish to partner with more space agencies, space companies, universities and all kinds of other entities,” Wang said. “As always, international partners are welcome to join us.”

Japan’s Hayabusa2 team asteroid sample return mission won the award in 2021. China previously won (opens in new tab) the IAF award in 2020 for the Chang’e 4 landing on the far side of the moon.

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Tianwen-1: China’s Mars probe has photographed the entire red planet

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Tianwen-1, which means “quest for heavenly truth,” was launched in 2020 and landed on Mars last May, when the Zhurong rover on board started its mission of patrolling and exploring the planet while the orbiter spun overhead.

In a statement, China’s National Space Agency (CNSA) said the probe has now completed all its assigned tasks, including taking medium-resolution images covering the entire planet.

The images, posted by the space agency on social media, show the Martian landscape’s rugged terrain: dusty red dunes, shield volcanoes, impact craters, the south pole ice sheet, and the cliffs and ridges of the Valles Marineris canyons — one of the largest canyons in our solar system.

The images were taken by the probe’s orbiter, which circled Mars 1,344 times, capturing images of the planet from every angle, while the rover explored the surface, CNSA said.

The six-wheeled rover carried scientific instruments on its journey, gathering information about Mars’ geological structure, atmosphere, environment and soil. The probe has collected 1,040 gigabytes of raw scientific data, which has been processed by scientists on Earth and handed to research teams for further study, the agency said.

CNSA said it had shared the orbiter’s flight information with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), and the scientific data will be available to international scientists “at an appropriate time.”

With temperatures dropping during the Martian winter, as well as poor sand and dust conditions, the rover entered a dormant mode on May 18 that will last through the harsh season before its expected awakening in December — when the landing area will enter early spring, bringing better weather.

The orbiter will continue conducting tests and preparing for future tasks, the space agency said.

Prior to China’s success with Tianwen-1, only the United States and the former Soviet Union had landed a spacecraft on the surface of Mars — but India, the ESA, and the United Arab Emirates have sent spacecraft to enter the planet’s orbit.

With Tianwen-1, China was the first nation to attempt sending both an orbiter and a rover on its first homegrown Mars mission. NASA, for instance, sent multiple orbiters to Mars before ever attempting a landing.

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Tianwen-1: China’s Mars probe has photographed the entire red planet

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Tianwen-1, which means “quest for heavenly truth,” was launched in 2020 and landed on Mars last May, when the Zhurong rover on board started its mission of patrolling and exploring the planet while the orbiter spun overhead.

In a statement, China’s National Space Agency (CNSA) said the probe has now completed all its assigned tasks, including taking medium-resolution images covering the entire planet.

The images, posted by the space agency on social media, show the Martian landscape’s rugged terrain: dusty red dunes, shield volcanoes, impact craters, the south pole ice sheet, and the cliffs and ridges of the Valles Marineris canyons — one of the largest canyons in our solar system.

The images were taken by the probe’s orbiter, which circled Mars 1,344 times, capturing images of the planet from every angle, while the rover explored the surface, CNSA said.

The six-wheeled rover carried scientific instruments on its journey, gathering information about Mars’ geological structure, atmosphere, environment and soil. The probe has collected 1,040 gigabytes of raw scientific data, which has been processed by scientists on Earth and handed to research teams for further study, the agency said.

CNSA said it had shared the orbiter’s flight information with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), and the scientific data will be available to international scientists “at an appropriate time.”

With temperatures dropping during the Martian winter, as well as poor sand and dust conditions, the rover entered a dormant mode on May 18 that will last through the harsh season before its expected awakening in December — when the landing area will enter early spring, bringing better weather.

The orbiter will continue conducting tests and preparing for future tasks, the space agency said.

Prior to China’s success with Tianwen-1, only the United States and the former Soviet Union had landed a spacecraft on the surface of Mars — but India, the ESA, and the United Arab Emirates have sent spacecraft to enter the planet’s orbit.

With Tianwen-1, China was the first nation to attempt sending both an orbiter and a rover on its first homegrown Mars mission. NASA, for instance, sent multiple orbiters to Mars before ever attempting a landing.

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A new video of Tianwen-1 flying above Mars is pretty epic

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Enlarge / China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft flies above Mars.

CNSA

China celebrates the start of a new year on Tuesday—it will be the Year of the Tiger—and on the eve of the holiday, the Chinese space program sent a special message from the red planet.

The country’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft, which has been in orbit around Mars for nearly one year, captured a “selfie” video that shows the craft passing in front of the planet. This video was taken by a camera on the end of a narrow arm that extends 1.6 meters away from the vehicle and is used by operators to monitor the health of the spacecraft.

Highlights of the visuals include Tianwen-1’s waggling solar panels, main engine, and fuel tanks. About halfway through, the ice-capped northern pole of Mars appears in the background as Tianwen-1 makes its orbit around the planet.

This imagery offers a rare glimpse of a spacecraft orbiting another world and is rather striking. Its release on the eve of the Chinese New Year demonstrates how the country’s leadership uses civil spaceflight to instill national pride and works to establish China on the world stage as an equal to the United States.

Some of this is propaganda, of course. But China very much has a national space program in ascendance. And on Friday, the government released a white paper that outlines China’s five-year civil space strategy, which aims to continue an upward trajectory.

“In the next five years, China will integrate space science, technology, and applications while pursuing the new development philosophy, building a new development model and meeting the requirements for high-quality development,” the white paper states. “It will start a new journey towards a space power. The space industry will contribute more to China’s growth as a whole, to global consensus and common effort with regard to outer space exploration and utilization, and to human progress.”

During the coming half-decade, China’s space program intends to complete its Tiangong space station and launch a space telescope. The country also plans further study of a “plan for a human lunar landing” and research of key technologies to lay a foundation for exploring and developing cislunar space. Eventually, China plans to work with Russia and other international partners to build a “research station” on the Moon. This puts China in direct competition with NASA, which seeks to unite nations under the “Artemis Accords” and make a series of lunar landings in the late 2020s and early 2030s.

China also intends to build upon its nascent efforts to robotically explore the Moon and Mars. With the Chang’e-6 lunar probe, China plans to collect and bring back samples from the polar regions of the Moon, and with the Chang’e-7 lunar probe, the country aims to explore the permanently shadowed craters where water ice is believed to exist. The country also aspires to return Mars rocks to Earth and begin exploration of the Jupiter system.

The five-year plan lays out an incredibly ambitious vision for space exploration. Should it come to fruition, China would rival NASA and its commercial space industry by the end of the decade.

Unfortunately, the white paper does not present budgeting information, nor does the closed leadership of China provide transparency about space spending. To meet some of these aims will almost certainly require significantly more funding than China is presently investing in space. Therefore, China’s space plans are likely dependent upon the country’s economy remaining relatively healthy.



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China’s Mars orbiter Tianwen-1 snaps a series of ‘selfies’

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China’s Mars orbiter Tianwen-1 has snapped a series of ‘selfies’ taken by a small camera that it released into orbit. 

Four new images have been released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), showing Tianwen-1 encircling the Red Planet, to mark the new year.  

One shows a full view of Tianwen-1 in space with the Red Planet’s north pole in the background, while another shows an impressive close-up of its reflective gold body and solar antenna wing.  

To capture the images, Tianwen-1 jettisoned one of its small cameras, which beamed back its snaps via Wi-Fi. 

Another image shows an amazing close-up of ice caps on the Martian north pole, complete with a distinctive pattern of snowy swirls.  

A handout photo released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on January 1, 2022, taken by the Tianwen-1 Mars mission, shows the orbiter flying around the Red Planet in an orbit. The CNSA published four pictures taken by its Tianwen-1 Mars mission, including the first full photo of the mission orbiter. The orbiter’s full picture was taken by a camera released by the craft, which is now about 217 million miles (350 million km) away from Earth, CNSA said

Another photo released by CNSA taken by a small deployable camera shows the Tianwen-1 orbiter flying around the Red Planet in an orbit

The first image – the first full photo of the mission orbiter – shows the golden orbiter body and a silver object directly underneath it.

This silver object is the directional antenna for high-speed data communication with Earth. 

The second photo shows a partial close-up of the orbiter, while the third image gives the best view of the planet’s ice swirls. 

Ice is found on Mars at the polar caps and below the surface in other locations on the planet, but unlike the ice at the two poles of the Earth, the ‘ice’ of Mars is composed of dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) and water ice.  

The CNSA’s fourth new image shows the Martian landscape, as captured by Zhurong, the mission’s rover. 

Ice cover on Mars north pole. Ice is found on Mars at the polar caps and below the surface in other locations on the planet

This fourth image shows the Martian landscape taken by the rover Zhurong. After over three months of preparations, a landing capsule released by the probe descended through the Martian atmosphere in an extremely challenging landing process and finally touched down on the Red Planet in May 2021

TIANWEN-1: A MARS PROBE AND ROVER FROM CHINA

Tianwen-1 is one of the most ambitious missions by the Chinese space agency so far undertaken. 

The mission is in two stages, consisting of a probe that will map the surface, and a rover to search for life.

The probe is equipped with a range of cameras to map the surface and find a safe landing spot. 

The unnamed rover weighs 240kg, has six wheels, four solar panels and can move at 200 metres per hour. 

it includes a number of scientific instruments including ground-penetrating radar and a device to monitor the weather.

The Chinese mission is named Tianwen-1 (‘Questions to Heaven’) as a nod to an ancient Chinese poem that has verses about the cosmos. 

Tianwen-1, which launched from Earth nearly 18 months ago, is now about 217 million miles (350 million km) away from Earth, CNSA said.

China successfully launched Tianwen-1 on July 23, 2020 aboard a Long March 5 Y-4 carrier rocket from Wenchang Space Launch Centre on the southern island province of Hainan, China. 

It travelled a total of 295 million miles (475 million km) and carried out several trajectory maneuvers before entering Martian orbit on February 10, 2021. 

After over three months of preparations, a lander released by the probe descended through the Martian atmosphere in an extremely challenging landing process and touched down on Mars on May 14, 2021 (May 15 Chinese time).

The feat made China the second country, after the US, to have successfully conducted a Martian landing.  

Tianwen-1 is the name of robotic spacecraft to Mars that actually consists of six separate pieces of equipment – an orbiter, two deployable cameras, a lander, a remote camera and the Zhurong rover.

The orbiter and its deployable cameras have been encircling the planet in space, while the Zhurong rover made its descent from the lander on the planet’s surface on May 22, about a week after the lander touched down.  

China’s mission includes a Mars orbiter, that will carry the lander and rover until release, a lander, that will parachute down the the surface carrying the rover, and a rover that will study the planet’s soil and atmosphere for signs of life

THE ZHURONG ROVER 

Part of mission: Tianwen-1

Manufacturer: China Academy of Space Technology 

Deployed from lander: May 22, 2021

Dimensions: 8’6” x 9’10” x 6’1” 

Mass: 530 lbs 

Powered by: Solar panels

Tools: Cameras and scientific instruments, including to measure climate and the chemical composition of material found on Mars’ surface 

Since its landing and deployment in May, Zhurong has steadily made a southwards journey from its landing point.

Zhurong has been surveying a vast plain called Utopia Planitia for signs of water or ice that could lend clues as to whether Mars ever sustained life. 

The plain is the largest impact basin in the solar system, with an estimated diameter of 2,050 miles and home to large volumes of underground ice.

The solar-panel-powered robot sports a number of cameras for imaging the Martian landscape, along with six scientific instruments for measuring climatic conditions, chemical compounds, magnetic fields and radar for looking underground.    

Tianwen-1 entered Mars orbit less than 24 hours after the United Arab Emirates’, Hope probe, which entered Mars orbit at around 16:15 GMT on February 9, 2021. 

NASA’s Perseverance rover, meanwhile, touched down on the Martian crater Jezero at 20:55 GMT on February 18, 2021. 

Hope, Tianwen-1 and Perseverance all launched within 12 days of each other in the second half of July 2020. 

Tianwen-1: China’s Mars debut. The five-tonne Tianwen-1 includes a Mars orbiter, a lander and a solar-powered rover that will for three months study the planet’s soil and atmosphere, take photos, chart maps and look for signs of past life

The UAE, China and the US took advantage of a period last July when Mars and Earth were favourably aligned to launch their exploratory missions to the Red Planet. 

China is ramping up its space efforts in other areas – it’s currently building a space station called Tiangong, meaning ‘heavenly palace’, to rival the ageing International Space Station (ISS). 

The ISS is backed by five participating space agencies – NASA (US), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada) – but China was originally barred from participating by the US. 

TIMELINE OF CHINESE SPACE MILESTONES

The Shenzhou-12 spacecraft is launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 17, 2021 in Jiuquan, Gansu Province of China, carried on the Long March-2F rocket, to Chinese Tiangong space station

July 19, 1964: China took its first official step into space, launching and recovering an experimental biological rocket carrying white mice.

April 24, 1970: The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong 1, was launched from the Jiuquan launch centre in the northwestern province of Gansu. That made China the fifth country to send satellites into orbit, following the Soviet Union, the United States, France and Japan.

Nov. 26, 1975: China launched its first recoverable satellite.

Nov. 20, 1999: China launched its first unmanned spacecraft, the Shenzhou-1.

Oct. 15, 2003: China became the third country after the United States and Russia to send a man into space with its own rocket. Astronaut Yang Liwei spent about 21 hours in space aboard the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft.

Oct. 12, 2005: China sent two men on a five-day flight on its Shenzhou-6 spacecraft.

Nov. 5, 2007: China’s first lunar orbiter, Chang’e-1, entered the moon’s orbit 12 days after takeoff.

Sept. 25, 2008: China’s third manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-7, was launched into space, where an astronaut clambered out of the spacecraft for the nation’s first space walk.

Oct. 1, 2010: China’s second lunar exploration probe blasted off from a remote corner of the southwestern province of Sichuan.

Sept. 29, 2011: The Tiangong-1, or ‘Heavenly Palace 1’, China’s first space lab, was launched to carry out docking and orbiting experiments.

Nov. 3, 2011: China carried out its first docking exercise between two unmanned spacecraft, the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft and Tiangong-1 module, a key test to securing a long-term manned presence in space.

Dec. 14, 2013: China landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon in the first ‘soft-landing’ since 1976, joining the United States and the former Soviet Union in accomplishing the feat.

Sept. 15, 2016:China launched its second experimental space laboratory, the Tiangong-2, part of a broader plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022.

Jan. 3, 2019: The Chang’e-4 lunar probe, launched in December, touched down on the far side of the moon. Previous spacecraft have flown over the far side but not landed on it.

June 23, 2020: China put into orbit its final Beidou satellite, completing a navigation network years in the making and setting the stage to challenge the U.S.-owned Global Positioning System (GPS).

July 23, 2020: China launched an unmanned probe to Mars in its first independent mission to another planet.

Nov. 24, 2020: China launched an uncrewed mission, the Chang’e-5, with the aim of collecting lunar material to help scientists learn more about the moon’s origins.

Dec. 1, 2020: China landed the Chang’e-5 probe on the moon’s surface.

April 29, 2021: China launched Tianhe, the first and largest of three modules of its upcoming space station.

May 15, 2021: China became the second country after the United States to land a robotic rover on the surface of Mars.

June 17, 2021: China launched the crewed Shenzhou-12 spacecraft to dock with Tianhe.

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China releases images of Mars captured by Tianwen-1

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00:34

China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Thursday released three high-definition images of Mars, two panchromatic images and one colored, captured by China’s Mars probe, Tianwen-1.

The panchromatic images were taken by the high-resolution camera on the probe at a distance of about 330 to 350 kilometers from the surface of Mars.

With a resolution of about 0.7 meters, the camera captured clear small craters, ridges, dunes and other features on the surface of Mars. The largest crater is estimated to be about 620 meters in diameter.

A panchromatic image captured by Tianwen-1. /CNSA

A panchromatic image captured by Tianwen-1. /CNSA

A panchromatic image captured by Tianwen-1. /CNSA

A panchromatic image captured by Tianwen-1. /CNSA

The color image was taken by a medium-resolution camera and shows the north polar region of Mars.

A color image captured by Tianwen-1. /CNSA

A color image captured by Tianwen-1. /CNSA

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China’s Tianwen-1 Mars probe captures epic video of Red Planet during orbital arrival

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China has released epic video footage from the country’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft as it made a close approach to Mars after reaching the Red Planet this week.

Tianwen-1 arrived at Mars on Wednesday (Feb. 10) and fired its engines to allow it to enter orbit around the planet. China has now received and put together a series of images taken during this approach and created two remarkable scenes, seen here in a single video. 

One video, taken by Tianwen-1’s small engineering survey sub-system camera for monitoring a solar array, shows Mars entering into frame followed by an incredible view of the edge of Mars’ atmosphere, or “atmospheric limb.”

Video: Watch China’s Tianwen-1 arrive at Mars
See more: China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission in photos

China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter captured this view of the Red Planet as it entered orbit around the planet on Feb. 10, 2021.  (Image credit: CCTV/CNSA)

Craters are also visible on the planet’s surface, while the solar panel appears to oscillate with the spacecraft firing its main engines to decelerate. 

A second video is from the point of view of a monitoring camera for Tianwen-1’s tracking antenna, providing similarly amazing footage.

The engineering survey sub-system consists of a number of small monitoring cameras used to monitor processes such as the deployment of solar arrays and other events, according to the China National Space Administration.

The cameras took photos once every three seconds and continuously photographed for around half an hour. The videos have a frame rate of about 10 pictures per second.

Related: Here’s what China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission will do

Another Mars view from China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter taken as it entered orbit around the planet on Feb. 10, 2021.  (Image credit: CCTV/CNSA)

Tianwen-1, which means “Questioning the Heavens,” launched on July 23, 2020 and is China’s first independent interplanetary mission. It arrived in orbit around Mars after a 202-day, 295-million-mile (475 million kilometers) journey through deep space. It snapped an image of the Red Planet during its final approach.

The spacecraft consists of both an orbiter and a rover. The landing attempt for the rover is not expected until May or June, giving the orbiter time to image and map out the intended landing site in a region known as Utopia Planitia.

Tianwen-1’s roughly 530-lb. (240 kilograms) solar-powered rover carries science payloads to investigate surface soil characteristics and search for potential water-ice distribution with a ground penetrating radar. The rover also carries a panoramic camera similar to one aboard China’s Yutu 2 rover, which is currently exploring the the far side of Earth’s moon.

The Tianwen-1 orbiter will study the Red Planet’s surface with medium- and high-resolution cameras and a sounding radar, and make other detections with a magnetometer and particle detectors.

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China’s Tianwen-1 enters orbit around Mars

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HELSINKI — China’s first interplanetary mission, Tianwen-1, successfully entered Mars orbit Feb. 10 following a 202-day journey through deep space.

Tianwen-1 initiated a near 15-minute burn of its 3000N main engine at 6:52 a.m. Eastern allowing the five-ton spacecraft to slow down and be gravitationally captured by Mars. 

The Mars orbit insertion maneuver was designed to place the Tianwen-1 into an elliptical orbit of 400 by 180,000 kilometers inclined by 10 degrees, with an orbital period of 10 days.

With Mars more than 192 million kilometers away from Earth and a light time delay of 10 minutes and 40 seconds, the braking burn was by necessity pre-programmed. Intervention would not be possible in the event of an issue.

Tianwen-1 will gradually lower its orbit to allow for observations of Mars. It will also begin preparations for the entry, descent and landing attempt of a 240-kilogram solar powered rover, an event expected to take place around May or June, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

The orbiter is expected to approach as close as 265 kilometers to the surface, allowing a high-resolution camera to return images with a resolution of better than 0.50 meters per pixel. 

This capability will be used to map a targeted rover landing site in Utopia Planitia. Landing coordinates of 110.318 degrees east longitude and 24.748 degrees north latitude had previously appeared in an official Chinese space publication before being removed.

Tianwen-1 joins the United Arab Emirates’ Hope mission, which arrived Tuesday, in orbit around the Red Planet. NASA’s Perseverance rover will arrive and make a soft landing attempt Feb. 18.

Soviet, Japanese and U.S. spacecraft have previously failed at the orbital insertion stage of the mission. The Soviet Mars 4 mission was unable to fire its engines and thus continued past Mars, while NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999 approached too close, resulting in a mission-ending interaction with the Martian atmosphere.

Water-ice study among science objectives

Tianwen-1 is designed to collect an array of diverse data, both from orbit and on the Martian surface.

Long Xiao, a planetary scientist at the China University of Geosciences, told SpaceNews that Tianwen-1 equipped with a total 13 scientific payloads in to study Martian morphology and topography, study surface regolith and search for water ice with radars, study the composition of surface materials and the characteristics of the ionosphere, climate, environment and magnetic field.

“The most unique aim is to search and map the distribution of water ice on the surface and subsurface,” says Long. Two sounding radars will operate independently, with one onboard the orbiter. It will conduct a global survey but focus more on polar high latitude regions. The other is on the rover. “As radar data processing and interpretation is very complex, so the ground and satellite radar data together could provide more reliable results than a single one,” says Long.

Tianwen-1 in deep space in October 2020, imaged by a detached camera. Credit: CNSA

Zhang Xiaoping, an associate professor at Macau University of Science and Technology, likewise highlighted the potential of the radar payloads. 

“We want to use the radar system to measure the subsurface structure of the Martian surface, especially for the buried water ice. This would allow us to study not only the underlying geologic structures of Mars, but also the potential source of water ice that supplies long-term human stay,” Zhang told SpaceNews.

“It is also important to measure the thickness and layers of ice and carbon dioxide in the polar region, to understand the seasonal atmosphere evolutions of Mars. By combining orbital and ground penetrating radar results, we will have a better understanding of the soil structure and evolution in the landing site.”

Deep space journey

Tianwen-1 launched from Wenchang, south China, July 23, 2020 on a Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket. The new launcher had crucially returned to flight in December 2019, having been grounded for more than 900 days following a 2017 failure.

The spacecraft carried out four trajectory correction maneuvers to refine its orbit and a larger deep space maneuver to alter its orbital inclination. 

The European Space Agency provided China with support for the Launch and Early Orbit phase (LEOP)  and later during Earth-Mars transfer with very precise tracking via Delta-DOR (delta Differential One way Range) measurements campaigns. This was carried out with ESA deep space 35-meter-diameter antennas located in Cebreros, Spain and New Norcia, Western Australia.

The Tianwen-1 orbiter has a design lifetime of one Martian year, or 687 Earth days. The rover, due to be named through a public vote and subsequent committee decision, has a design lifetime of around 90 Earth days.

The mission draws on technologies and capabilities developed through the Chang’e lunar program orbiters, lander and rovers, as well as head shielding and parachute expertise from Shenzhou human spaceflight endeavors

China is also developing a Mars sample return mission for around 2028-30.

China’s Tianwen-1 Mars rover is shown undergoing thermal vacuum testing in this frame grab from a China Central Television report in 2020. Credit: CCTV

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China’s Tianwen-1 Mars probe delivers its first haunting look at the planet

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China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft sent back its first snapshot of Mars.


CNSA

February is a busy month on Mars, with three spacecraft missions closing in on the red planet. China’s Tianwen-1 is one of them, and it already has an eye on its new home in the solar system. The Chinese National Space Agency released Tianwen-1’s first view of Mars on Friday.

CNSA described the image as “the first snapshot from the Chinese craft” in a statement, and said it was captured from about 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) away. The stark black and white photo shows Mars against the dark backdrop of space.

CNSA previously released a spacecraft “selfie” in September 2020 showing Tianwen-1 on its long flight.

The Chinese spacecraft has been making some corrections to its trajectory to bring it neatly into orbit on Feb. 10. The mission is made up of an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It will spend some time traveling around Mars before attempting the harrowing landing part of the mission.

Joining Tianwen-1 in orbit will be NASA’s Perseverance mission and the United Arab Emirate’s Hope probe. Reaching orbit is a big deal for all of them, though NASA will the focus on Feb. 18 when it attempts to land the Perseverance rover on the surface.

Tianwen-1’s snapshot of Mars is dramatic not just for its view of the red planet, but for the hopes and goals it represents.

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