China’s Tianwen-1 space probe is expected to enter Mars orbit next month after traveling more than 400m km since its launch on July 23 last year.
The probe has flown into space for 163 days and is currently about 8.3m km from Mars, according to China’s National Space Administration.
The flight marks the beginning of the country’s journey of independent planetary exploration.
“The probe is flying faster and faster as it gets out of the effects of heliocentric gravity,” explained Li Zhencai, the project’s vice president. “At the moment, the speed is basically stable at about 22km per second compared to Earth.”
That means the probe covers about 1.8km per day.
The spacecraft includes an orbiter, a lander, and a rover.
It is expected to orbit Mars in May 2021, about three months after it reached the orbit of the red planet.
The distance between Mars and Earth varies from time to time, from 50 million kilometers at the nearest and 400 million kilometers at the closest.