China successfully launched a rover to Mars on 23 July 2020, which is another milestone for its space programme.
Highlights:
♦ China’s Mars probe was launched from the southern island of Hainan, China.
♦ The Mars mission was named Tianwen-1 meaning “Questions to Heaven” in a nod to a classical Chinese poem that has verses about the cosmos.
♦ Under the mission, the probe aims to go enter into Martian orbit. It will land on the planet Mars and release a small rover to conduct research on its surface.
♦ It is expected to reach the planet in February 2021.
♦ The spacecraft will travel at least 55 million kilometres to reach its destination.
♦ In its earlier attempt in 2011, China’s partnership with Russia failed because the Russian launcher was unable to get the craft into a transfer orbit to slingshot towards Mars.
