Chinas Zhu Rong rover makes a historic landing on the red planet.
July 23, 2020Rocket blasts off.
July 23, 2020Tianwen-1 probe released, begins seven-month journey covering nearly 500 million km.
Tianwen-1 performs a series of manoeuvres as it moves away from Earths orbit and approaches Mars. These manoeuvres, or orbital corrections, ensure the spacecraft maintains its course.
August 2, 2020First orbital correction (3 million km from Earth).
September 20, 2020Second orbital correction (19 million km from Earth).
October 9, 2020Deep-space manoeuvre (29.4 million km from Earth).
October 28, 2020Third orbital correction (44 million km from Earth).
February 5, 2021Fourth orbital correction (184 million km from Earth and 1.1 million km from Mars).
February 10, 2021Spacecraft enters Mars orbit by performing an insertion manoeuvre.
February 24, 2021After conducting multiple orbital corrections, the probe enters parking orbit, surveying potential landing sites.
May 15, 2021Soft landing in preselected site in Utopia Planitia plain.
The Long March 5 rocket, Chinas largest and most powerful launch vehicle, uses kerosene/liquid oxygen engines.
Rocket debris falls into the ocean.
China is developing reusable launch vehicle technology, aimed at reducing mission costs.
Mission launches in July to take advantage of the close alignment of Earth and Mars, allowing for a quicker trip.
China, the United States and the United Arab Emirates each launched Mars missions in the space of 11 days in July 2020. Hope, the UAEs first Mars mission, swung into the planets orbit on February 9, 2021, to study its weather and atmosphere. Nasas science rover Perseverance landed on the red planet on February 18. On April 19, Nasas Ingenuity helicopter, which was carried in Perseverances belly, made its historic flight – a first on another planet.
Nearly 50 attempts have been made to visit Mars and more than half have failed. The Soviet Mars 3 spacecraft made the first controlled landing in December 1971 but it failed 110 seconds later. In 2011, China made its first attempt to reach Mars with a small orbiter Yinghuo, or Firefly, piggybacking on Russias Fobos-Grunt mission. But a launch failure meant it never left Earths orbit. The US has landed successfully on Mars nine times, the first almost 45 years ago. Eight spacecraft are now operating around Mars: three American, two European, and one each for China, India and the UAE. The US has operated five rovers on Mars.
Tianwen, which translates as Heavenly Questions, is named after the masterpiece of one of Chinas greatest poets Qu Yuan (340278BC). The only Chinese space vehicle to have travelled farther than Tianwen-1 was the Change 2 lunar probe, which went beyond Mars after successfully orbiting the moon in 2010. Contact with it was lost in 2014.
China and Russia have agreed to build an international research station on the moon. Nasa says it wants to build a space outpost in lunar orbit. These lunar stations could potentially be used as staging points for human missions to Mars.
Tianwen-1 orbits closest and furthest points from the Martian surface.
The rover is expected to spend three months exploring the surface, sending back photos and data of the site. The Tianwen-1 probe remains in orbit and will act as a relay satellite, sending signals to and from Earth.
May 15, 2021Soft landing in preselected site in Utopia Planitia plain.
Landing the rover on Mars was a big test for Chinas space programme. Zhu Rong named after the Chinese mythical god of fire and war successfully landed after nine minutes of terror: Nasa’s description of the communications blackout during which engineers on Earth have no control or oversight of the rover due to a radio signal delay.
Protected by a heat shield, Chinas Mars landing craft carrying the rover had to detach itself from the orbiter 70km above the surface, before hurtling towards the surface at a speed of nearly 5km per second. The descent was slowed with the aid of a parachute and rocket thrusters.
If Zhu Rong succeeds in its mission to collect and send back information about the Martian surface over 90 days, it would make China the first country to carry out an orbiting, landing and roving operation during its first mission to Mars.
After three months in Mars orbit, Chinas Tianwen-1 unmanned spacecraft successfully deployed its rover Zhu Rong onto the red planet on May 15. The rovers mission is to explore the Mars landscape, study its surface and atmosphere.
The landing was another milestone in Chinas space exploration programme. Only the United States has managed to land and operate a spacecraft on Earths neighbour.
The Tianwen-1 is among a series of spacecraft that China plans to launch to explore the other planets in the solar system.
At the end of last year, Chinas Change 5 robotic spacecraft landed on the moon and returned to Earth with lunar samples.