China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft has sent back its first image of Mars, the national space agency said, as the mission prepares to reach the Red Planet later this year.
The spacecraft, launched in July at the same time as a rival US mission, is expected to enter Mars orbit around February 10.
The black-and-white photo released late Friday by China’s National Space Administration showed geological features, including Schiaparelli Crater and Valles Marineris, a vast expanse of canyons on the Martian surface.
The photo was taken about 2.2 million kilometers from Mars, according to the CNSA, which said the spacecraft is now 1.1 million kilometers from the planet.
The robotic spacecraft started one of its engines to “make an orbital correction” on Friday and was expected to slow down before being “captured by Martian gravity” around Feb. 10, the agency said.
(National Space Administration of China)
The five-ton Tianwen-1 includes an orbiter on Mars, a lander and a rover that will study the planet’s soil.
China hopes to land the rover in May in Utopia, a massive impact basin on Mars.
After pursuing the United States and the Soviet Union to lead the Cold War, China poured billions of dollars into its military-led space program.
He has made huge strides over the last decade, sending a man into space in 2003.
The Asian plant has laid the groundwork for assembling a space station by 2022 and for a permanent foothold in Earth’s orbit.
But Mars has proven to be a challenging target so far, with most missions sent by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and India to the planet since 1960 ending in failure.
Tianwen-1 is not China’s first attempt to reach Mars.
A previous mission with Russia in 2011 ended prematurely because the launch failed.
China has already sent two rovers to the moon. With the second, China became the first country to successfully land on the opposite side.
All Tianwen-1 probe systems are in “good condition,” CNSA said Friday.
© Agence France-Presse