China launches ambitious Tianwen-1 Mars rover mission
Details:
- Tianwen-1 consists of an orbiter and a lander/rover duo, a combination of craft that had never before launched together toward the Red Planet.
- It's China's first stab at a full-on Mars mission.
- Rocket: Long March 5
- Tianwen-1 will arrive at the Red Planet in February 2021.
- The lander/rover pair will touch down on the Martian surface two to three months later.
- The solar-powered rover will then spend about 90 Martian days, or sols, studying its surroundings in detail. (One sol is roughly 40 minutes longer than an Earth day.)
- The orbiter will eventually settle into a polar elliptical orbit that takes it as close to the Martian surface.
Objectives of Tianwen-1 include:
- To map the morphology and geological structure,
- To investigate the surface soil characteristics and water-ice distribution,
- To analyze the surface material composition,
- To measure the ionosphere and the characteristics of the martian climate and environment at the surface,
- To perceive the physical fields (electromagnetic, gravitational) and internal structure of mars
Note: Landing on Mars is notoriously difficult. Only the U.S. has successfully landed a spacecraft on Martian soil, doing it eight times since 1976.