Uncrewed Chinese spacecraft successfully enters Mars orbit

An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft on Wednesday, February 10, successfully entered orbit around Mars after a 6-1/2-month journey from Earth, China’s space agency said, in the country’s first independent mission to the red planet.

The robotic probe carried out a 15-minute burn of its thrusters at 7:52 pm Beijing time (1152 GMT), the China National Space Administration said in a statement, slowing the spacecraft to a speed at which it could be captured by the pull of Mars’ gravity.

In May or June, the Tianwen-1 will attempt to land a capsule carrying a 240-kg rover in a rapid seven-minute descent onto a massive plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars known as Utopia Planitia.

If the landing is successful, the solar-powered rover will explore the Martian surface for 90 days, studying its soil and seeking signs of ancient life, including any sub-surface water and ice using a ground-penetrating radar.

Tianwen-1, or “Questions to Heaven,” the name of a Chinese poem written two millennia ago, is China’s first independent mission to the planet after a probe co-launched with Russia failed to leave the Earth’s orbit in 2011.

The probe is 1 of 3 reaching Mars this month. The Hope spacecraft launched by the United Arab Emirates successfully entered the planet’s orbit on Tuesday, February 9. Hope will not make a landing but will orbit Mars gathering data on its weather and atmosphere.

Tianwen-1 will also have an orbiter component surveying the Martian atmosphere with a range of instruments including a high-resolution image camera.

The two probes join 6 other orbiting spacecraft above Mars launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and India.

In the United States’ most ambitious Mars mission, the 1-tonne Perseverance probe is expected to arrive on February 18. It will immediately attempt a landing in a rocky depression with precipitous cliffs called Jezero Crater.

On the surface, Perseverance will gather rock samples for retrieval by a future mission. Two other NASA rovers – Curiosity and InSight – are currently operating on the planet’s surface.

Perseverance will also attempt to deploy a small helicopter named Ingenuity in the thin Martian atmosphere. – Rappler.com