Elon Musk Applauds China On Successful Launch Of Tianwen-1 Spacecraft To Mars

While you were browsing on the internet looking for funny memes or videos on social media, you¡¯d be surprised to know that China has sent its fully self-developed mission on its way to Mars.

Reuters

The launch took place from Hainan Island¡¯s Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre at around 10:00 AM today.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk congratulated the Chinese space agency for the successful launch of Tianwen-1 spacecraft towards Mars in a tweet too:

Twitter: Elon Musk

Why is Tianwen-1 launch a big deal?

In case you didn¡¯t know, this launch is definitely a big deal as this makes China the third nation to send a rover to Mars after the US and Russia. The Tianwen-1 consists of an orbiter along with a lander/rover -- something that no country in the world has ever done before in a Martian mission.

What does Tianwen-1 mean?

The mission is named after a Chinese poem by poet Qu Yuan. It means ¡®questions to heaven¡¯. This surprisingly isn¡¯t China¡¯s first attempt at exploring Mars. It tried doing this in 2011 when it attached an orbiter dubbed Yinghuo-1 on the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission. Sadly the launch failed and the orbiter didn¡¯t make it out of the Earth¡¯s orbit.

But with their own self-made Long March 5 rocket, the mission is more promising. The team members wrote in a paper that revealed the mission objectives, stating, "Tianwen-1 is going to orbit, land and release a rover all on the very first try, and coordinate observations with an orbiter. No planetary missions have ever been implemented in this way. If successful, it would signify a major technical breakthrough."

When will Tianwen-1 arrive on Mars?

The Tianwen-1 is expected to arrive on the Martian surface in around February 2021 next year but that¡¯s not when it¡¯ll land. It¡¯ll orbit the planet for a few months and then land somewhere in the region of Utopia Planitia -- a large flat area in the northern hemisphere of the planet.

This was also the same place where NASA¡¯s Viking 2 lander made a landing in 1976.

CNSA

China Mars rover sensors

This rover will spend around 90 Martian days, capturing data from the surroundings, and helping humanity understand more about Mars.

It¡¯s carrying six science instruments including a Multispectral Camera, Terrain Camera, Mars Rover Subsurface Exploration Radar, Mars Surface Composition Detector, Mars Magnetic Field Detector and Mars Meteorology Monitor.