China on Thursday morning,successfully launched Tianwen-1, its first independent mission to Mars.The text book precision launch of Tianwen-1 asserted the Chinese bid for global leadership in space technology.It served to be a display of its technological prowess and ambition.
China’s biggest carrier rocket,the Long March 5 Y-4 blasted off with the probe at 12:41 p.m. (0441 GMT) from Wenchang Space Launch Centre on the southern island of Hainan.This is Long March 5s fourth launch carrying such a heavy pay load.The probe is expected to reach Mars in February where it will attempt to deploy a rover to explore the planet for 90 days.
Tianwen in Cantonese literally means ‘Questions to heaven’. Tianwen-1 consists of a Martian orbiter, lander, and a rover. Once the mission reaches the Red Planet, China could become just the second nation ever to land and operate a rover on the Martian surface. In fact, no other nation has had much success with landing anything on Mars. Europe has tried twice to land spacecraft on Mars, failing both times.The USSRs Mars3 probe only operated 20 sec before shutting down completely.If Tianwen-1 is succesful,it will elevate Chinese technology to a feat only NASA has achived.
The United Arab Emirates also launched its first interplanetary mission on July 19th, sending an orbiter(satellite) called Hope to Mars that will study the planet’s weather.
China sends its first mission to Mars. Tianwen-1 was launched from Wenchang towards the red planet on a voyage that will last until next year. #Mars pic.twitter.com/9PmlzHCoEe
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) July 23, 2020
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