The first Mars exploration mission in China traveled Tianwen-1 more than 400 million km by Sunday morning and is expected to enter Mars orbit next month, the country’s space agency said.
Until now, the Mars probe had flown in space for 163 days. It was about 130 million km from Earth and about 8.3 million km from Mars, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
According to the CNSA, the probe is operating stably and is expected to slow down before it enters Mars orbit in more than a month and prepares itself for landing on the red planet.
Since its launch on July 23, 2020, the Mars probe has captured an image showing both the Earth and the Moon, as well as taking several selfies.
The Tianwen-1 probe, weighing about five tons, consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It is designed to end orbiting, landing and maneuvering in a single mission.
After entering Mars orbit, he will spend two to three months exploring landing sites, using a high-resolution camera to prepare for landing in May.
After landing, the rover will be released for scientific study with a life expectancy of at least 90 Martian days (approximately three months on Earth), and the orbiter, with a design life of one Martian year (about 687 days on Earth), they will provide communications for the rover while it makes its own scientific discovery, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Tianwen-1 means Questions to Heaven and comes from a poem written by Qu Yuan (c. 340-278 BC), one of the famous poets of ancient China.
The US, Russia, India and the EU have so far been successful in sending missions to Mars which is considered the most complex space mission. India was the first Asian country to launch its Mars Mangalyaan orbiter mission that went into orbit on the red planet in 2014.
India was also the first country to enter Martian orbit in their first attempt.