Mars
This Saturday, the Chinese space exploration agency unveiled a collection of Martian photographs captured by their “Tianwen-1” orbital probe.
The organization declared that the probe has been circling Mars for 526 days, positioned approximately 3.5 million kilometers from Earth. Data transmission lasted about 19.5 minutes.
This Chinese mission launched on July 23, 2020, from the Wenchang Spaceport in southern China, utilizing the CZ-5 Heavy Launch Vehicle.
Wow! This is yet another surprise from the Tianwen-1 mission. The orbiter had apparently released a small sub satellite while in Mars orbit, returning these outrageous images. [CNSA/CLEP/PEC] https://t.co/hPezkaDOgn pic.twitter.com/b22JvIQgAb
– Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) January 1, 2022
Following the landing module’s touchdown, the orbiter continues its Martian trajectory, completing one full revolution around the planet every two Martian days (precisely 24 hours and 39 minutes).
The probe’s primary objective is to serve as a communication relay for the Chinese Mars rover.
