China’s Tianwen-1 probe enters the Mars Orbit

February 11, 2021

A Chinese spacecraft named Tianwen-1 has successfully entered the orbit around Mars on February 10, 2021.

Key Facts

The probe entered the MARS Orbit after making the journey of 6 and a half month from the Earth.
This mission is China’s first independent mission on the red planet.
After reaching near to the orbit, robotic probe initiated and completed its 15-minute burn of the thrusters.
Burning of the thrusters slowed down the speed of the spacecraft so that it could be captured by the gravity pull of the MARS.

Objective of the mission

Tianwen-1 mission will attempt to send a landing capsule which is carrying a 240-kilogram rover in a rapid seven-minute descent. The rover will be sent to the northern hemisphere of Mars called as Utopia Planitia.
After the rover is landed successfully, the solar-powered rover will be exploring the Martian surface for 90 days.
The rover will study the soil and study if any signs of ancient life, is present there.
It would also trace the sub-surface water and ice using the ground-penetrating radar.

Tianwen-1

Tianwen-1 is an interplanetary mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Under the mission, the CNSA sent a robotic spacecraft to Mars. The spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a deployable camera, a lander and a rover. The spacecraft was successfully launched on July 23, 2020 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. It was launched from a Long March 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. The spacecraft has been named Tianwen-1 means “Questions to Heaven” following the Chinese poem that was written two millennia ago. It is China’s first independent MARS mission after its probe that was co-launched with Russia failed in the year 2011.

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