China Launches Tianwen-1 with Rover in Tow | Wibest Broker

China has successfully launched Tianwen-1, its first major interplanetary mission to Mars. The launch begins a long seven-month journey through deep space. The spacecraft should reach Mars by February 2021.

The Tianwen-1 mission consists of a Martian orbiter, lander, and rover. The trio launched on top of the Long March 5 from China’s Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on July 23rd. 

The Long March 5 is one of China’s most powerful rockets. It is a launch system that the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology developed.

It is the nation’s first launch vehicle that people designed from the ground up to focus on non-hypergolic liquid rocket propellants. This mission marked just the fourth launch ever for this type of vehicle. 

This is its most ambitious space mission yet, sending a trio of spacecraft to Mars. It carries a rover to explore the planet’s surface.

Once they reach Mars, all three spacecraft will work in tandem to study its geology. That is to learn more about what might be lurking underneath the planet’s surface. 

The orbiter will map and image Mars from above. The lander and rover will eventually make the nightmarish plunge down to the surface. 

If they make it to the ground intact, the lander will act as a delivery platform. This will then provide a ramp for the rover to roll away and traverse the Martian terrain.

Tianwen-1 Could be the Second Nation to Land a Rover on Mars

China would only be the second nation to land and operate a rover on the Red Planet’s surface. That is once the mission reaches Mars.

Only the United States has been able to successfully land a robotic spacecraft that can explore the surface of Mars. In fact, no other nation has had much success with landing anything on the Red Planet.

Europe has tried twice to land spacecraft on Mars but failed both times. In 1971, the Soviet Union’s Mars 3 spacecraft did land and communicated for about 20 seconds, before going dark unexpectedly.

If China’s landing is successful, it will have pulled off a feat that only NASA has mastered. This could elevate the nation into an elite tier of the global space community.

The United Arab Emirates also launched its first interplanetary mission on July 19th. It sent an orbiter called Hope to Mars that will study the planet’s weather. That actually makes Tianwen-1 the second mission headed to Mars this summer.

Meanwhile, NASA is on track to launch its next Martian rover on July 30th from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Known as Perseverance, the rover is designed to look for signs of past life on Mars. It will be digging up samples of Martian dirt that it may then return to Earth one day for study.

This will include collecting a cache of rock samples to bring back to Earth.

Perseverance is supposed to touch down on Mars early next year. Its rover and other instruments will start to probe for evidence of what Mars was like billions of years ago.