China Mars mission Tianwen-1: The name of the mission Tianwen comes from a poem written by an ancient Chinese poet meaning “question to heaven”.
China Mars Mission
China Mars mission Tianwen-1: China is all set to become the second nation to set foot on Mars as the Chinese agency sends a trio of spacecraft- an orbiter, a lander and a rover to Mars. The trio launched on top of the Long March 5 from China’s Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the early morning hours of July 23rd. The name of the mission Tianwen comes from a poem written by an ancient Chinese poet meaning “question to heaven”.
The launch begins a long seven-month journey through deep space and the voyage will last till next year. The space crafts should reach Mars in February 2021. Once it is landed, the three space crafts will study the geology of Mars and what might be lurking behind its surface. While the orbiter will map and image Mars from above, the lander and rover will eventually make the nightmarish plunge down to the surface of Mars.
“Tianwen-1 is going to orbit, land and release a rover all on the very first try, and coordinate observations with an orbiter,” the mission’s chief scientist wrote in a short article for the journal Nature Astronomy on July 13. “No planetary missions have ever been implemented in this way.”
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· Create a geological map of Mars
· Explore the characteristics of the Martian soil and potentially locate water-ice deposits
· Analyze the surface material composition
· Investigate the Martian atmosphere and climate at the surface
· Understand the electromagnetic and gravitational fields of the planet
After US China becomes the second nation to have successfully sent a space mission to the red planet. If the space craft lands successfully China will achieve a milestone that only NASA has achieved.
The United Arab Emirates also sent a space craft to Mars to study its weather on July 19th. Tianwen-1 is the second mission launched in July 2020. Next up is NASA, which is on track to launch its next Martian rover on July 30th. Called Perseverance, the rover is designed to look for signs of past life on Mars, as well as dig up samples of Martian dirt that may be returned to Earth one day for study.
