MARS LANDING BY CHINA

Subject: Science & tech

Context: China landed a spacecraft on Mars carrying its first Mars rover in a big boost to its space ambitions.

Concept:

China had in July last year launched its first Mars mission, called Tianwen-1, meaning Questions to Heaven, carrying a lander and rover.
Tianwen-1 had been in orbit since February, and recently, a lander descended successfully on to the surface of the red planet.
Only the Soviet Union and the U.S. had previously carried out a successful landing on Mars.
China had previously tried to launch a Mars orbiter along with Russia in 2011, but that failed to enter orbit. This attempt, on its own, hit the target.

Zhurong Rover

China’s first Mars rover will be named Zhurong after a traditional fire god.
The rover is aboard the Tianwen-1 probe that arrived in Mars orbit on February 24 and is due to land in May to look for evidence of life.
The rover will provide “first-hand materials for research on the planet’s space environment, surface topography, and soil structure”.

About Tianwen-1:

China’s first Mars probe is called Tianwen-1 (formerly Huoxing 1).
The spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover.
Launched in 2020 on a Long March 5 rocket from Xichang, China.
Landing site: Somewhere in Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in Mars’ northern latitudes and the same place NASA’s Viking 2 mission landed in the 1970s.