Chinese Tianwen-1 Mission Lands On Mars; Second To Do So After NASA's Perseverance

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Exploring Mars has been the top agenda for several countries here. While NASA has successfully landed the Perseverance rover to explore the Red Planet, China is following its footsteps closely. The latest news reveals that China's Tianwen-1 mission has successfully landed its first rover on Mars, becoming the second nation to get a rover on the Martian surface.

 
Chinese Tianwen-1 Mission Lands On Mars

China Tianwen-1 Mission Reaches Mars

Looking back, the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) launched the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars. Chinese news agencies Xinhua and CGTN have reported that the probe rover has landed on Red Planet. The Chinese Tianwen-1 mission carried a golf-cart-sized rover called Zhurong, a lander, and an orbiter to Mars in an attempt to explore it.

 

The Zhurong rover, which is named after an ancient fire god in Chinese mythology, will begin its mission by first imaging and self-inspecting its parts before rolling out into the alien planet. Once deployed, the rover is expected to spend around 90 days ( that is around 93 Earth days).

Going into the details, the rover packs six wheels and is roughly the size of NASA's twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The primary mission of the Zhurong rover is to study and understand the planet's composition and looks for signs of water ice. The rover is carrying scientific instruments that include two panoramic cameras, ground-penetrating radar, and a magnetic field detector - all of which will help to study the climate and weather on Mars.

Race To Reach Mars

Several countries have tried to send rovers to Mars to better understand the Red Planet. A lot of these missions have failed and crashed their rovers with a hard landing. However, the Tianwen-1 mission landing has marked the second country to get its rover successfully on Mars. The already present NASA Perseverance rover is exploring the planet to find signs of life.

That said, several orbiters are circling Mars. This includes orbiters from NASA, ESA, ISRO, and another from UAE. The Chinese orbiter will also continue to circle Mars and relay signals from the lander and rover. The entire mission is expected to run for roughly three months.

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