The surface of Mars, photographed by China's Tianwen-1 probe after it arrived in orbit in February. Credit: CNSA/Xinhua/Alamy
China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft, currently in orbit around the Red Planet, has dropped its lander and rover — named Zhurong after a Chinese mythological god of fire — completing the most perilous stage of its ten-month mission.
According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, an entry capsule enclosing them separated from the orbiter at about 4 am Beijing time on 15 May. After several hours it entered Mars's atmosphere at an altitude of 125 kilometres.
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Chinese spacecraft successfully lands on surface of Mars
China's "Zhurong" rover successfully landed on Mars Saturday, state media reported, a triumph for Beijing's increasingly bold space ambitions.
The mission "successfully landed in the pre-selected area", state broadcaster CCTV said, while the official Xinhua news agency cited the China National Space Administration (CNSA) in confirming the touchdown.
It makes China the first country to carry out an orbiting, landing and roving operation during its first mission to Mars -- a feat unmatched by the only other two nations to reach the Red Planet, the US and Russia.
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Ready to pack your bags and hit the cosmic highway for a new off-world home? The folks at ABIBOO Studio and SONet are putting out the welcome mat and presenting their vision for what might become the first capital city on Mars , housing up to 250,000 residents.
The city, called Nüwa , was brilliantly conceived by ABIBOO and SONet, a scientific think tank headed by astrophysicist Guillem Anglada, who led the discovery of exoplanet Proxima b . It's a visionary concept for a completely scalable, sustainable Red Planet metropolis carved into the 3,000-foot (1,000 meters) cliff face of Tempe Mensa, and was selected as a finalist by The Mars Society's 2020 contest for feasible settlement designs.
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This image of NASA's Mars Perseverance rover shows a plate fastened to the rover aft crossbeam (lower right) with three fingernail-sized chips stenciled with nearly 11 million names of Earthlings. The full-resolution image was taken by the Perseverance rover's left Navigation Camera (Navcam) on Feb. 28, 2021.
The names were submitted as part of the Send Your Name to Mars campaign. Anyone who missed this opportunity can sign up to send their name on the next Mars mission.
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The discussion took place just days after the Biden administration announced its intention to allocate discretionary funds to the sample mission, which would involve a series of U.S. and European spacecraft carefully ferrying pieces of Mars back to Earth.
Trosper showed a map filled with colorful lines, plotting potential "traverse routes" for the rover as it moves from its landing area, dodging some sand dunes en route before arriving at a suspected delta. At the delta, it will take samples of the lake bed and then move on to a nearby crater wall, Trosper said.
China makes history with successful Mars landing - Axios
A model of the Tianwen-1 Mars rover is displayed during an exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing. Photo: Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images
Why it matters: This is the first time China has landed a spacecraft on another planet, and it launches the nation into an elite club of only a few space agencies to successfully make it to the Martian surface.
What's happening: The rover arrived in orbit around the Red Planet in February with the country's Tianwen-1 mission.
China's Mars rover landing: How Zhurong will attempt to touch down on the Red Planet | Space
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights .
For the first few months of 2021, the Martian atmosphere was buzzing with new visitors from Earth . First, it was the UAE Space Agency's Hope probe, followed by the Chinese Tianwen-1 entering orbit .
Happening on Twitter
China has successfully landed its rover on Mars, state media reports, the first time a country other than the US ha… https://t.co/sQLVirU0QH cnnbrk (from Everywhere) Sat May 15 01:46:18 +0000 2021
BREAKING: China has landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time in the latest advance for its space program, the… https://t.co/fhhPG5g9QP AP (from Global) Sat May 15 00:55:41 +0000 2021
Breaking: China has landed on Mars https://t.co/cZdYi61tzs https://t.co/eFaQAQVapq verge (from New York) Sat May 15 00:46:57 +0000 2021
China's Mars probe Tianwen-1 has touched down on the red planet, marking the first time that China has landed a pro… https://t.co/PbA401fsoc PDChina (from Beijing, China) Sat May 15 01:04:58 +0000 2021
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