What the rover will look for on the Red Planet
China’s Tianwen 1 spacecraft has successfully landed on the surface of Mars. Before that, only the Americans managed to land on the Red Planet.
China’s first interplanetary expedition, impressively crossed a new milestone: the rover lander successfully soft-landed at its planned location in the southern part of the vast Utopia Plain on the Red Planet early Saturday morning. The Chinese edition of the Global Times was informed about this by the National Space Administration of China (CNSA). China became the second country after the United States to start exploring Mars.
The successful landing of Tianwen 1 occurred on the 295th day of its flight after the vehicle was launched and sent to the planned orbit using the Long March 5 launch vehicle from the Wenchang Cosmodrome in Hainan province in southern China July 23, 2020 of the year.
The Tianwen 1 (Questions to the Sky) spacecraft landed in a pre-selected area in the northern hemisphere of Mars. With the help of the rover, it is planned to investigate the geology of this area.
After entering the atmosphere of Mars, the Chinese spacecraft spent about nine minutes decelerating and hovering for amortization before landing softly at its designated landing site in the Utopia Plain, according to CNSA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRlhLKxMeI0
“Achieving a soft landing on Mars required extremely precise control of a range of technologies, including aerodynamic design, parachute and engine. Not even one second can be neglected in any single system, ”said Sun Zezhou, chief designer of Tianwen 1.
“Tianwen 1” consists of an orbital module, a landing platform and a rover, says the BBC. The device is named after the poem “Questions to Heaven” by the Chinese poet Qu Yuan, who lived in the 4th century BC. At the end of February, the probe entered orbit and spent more than two months choosing a suitable landing site; it also photographed the surface of the Red Planet.
The Zhuzhong rover, named after the Chinese god of fire, is now scheduled to survey the landing site before leaving the platform. The rover is solar powered and has a high-resolution camera on the rover.
“Chzhuzhong” will study the surface and atmosphere of the planet, as well as look for signs of possibly existing Martian life – to look for groundwater and ice with the help of a georadar.
According to the BBC, outwardly, the Chinese rover resembles the American Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which were delivered to the surface of Mars in 2004. Its weight is about 240 kg, and its energy is generated by solar panels. The spacecraft is equipped with special masts with cameras for photography and navigation, as well as tools for analyzing soil samples and searching for water and ice. The exploration of the planet is expected to last about 90 Martian days.
To survive the infamous, severe sandstorm on the surface of Mars, which can reach 180 meters per second, which is about three times faster than the super typhoon on Earth, Chinese engineers have developed a new material for Zhuzhong, allowing it to resist dust and shake it off. by vibration, writes Global Times.
Xi Jinping, in his congratulatory message on the arrival of the Chinese spacecraft on Mars, said that this success marks an important step forward in interplanetary exploration of a country that has made the leap from the Earth-Moon system to the interplanetary system. Leaving the first Chinese footprint on Mars was another milestone in the development of the country’s space industry.
The head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin congratulated the Chinese on the successful landing of the probe on Mars: “The successful landing of the Chinese spacecraft on the surface of Mars is a great success of the PRC’s fundamental space research program.”
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