China’s Tianwen-1 probe enters the Mars Orbit

A Chinese spacecraft named Tianwen-1 has successfully entered the orbit around Mars on February 10, 2021.

Key Facts

• The probe entered the MARS Orbit after making the journey of 6 and a half month from the Earth.
• This mission is China’s first independent mission on the red planet.
• After reaching near to the orbit, robotic probe initiated and completed its 15-minute burn of the thrusters.
• Burning of the thrusters slowed down the speed of the spacecraft so that it could be captured by the gravity pull of the MARS.

Objective of the mission

• Tianwen-1 mission will attempt to send a landing capsule which is carrying a 240-kilogram rover in a rapid seven-minute descent. The rover will be sent to the northern hemisphere of Mars called as Utopia Planitia.
• After the rover is landed successfully, the solar-powered rover will be exploring the Martian surface for 90 days.
• The rover will study the soil and study if any signs of ancient life, is present there.
• It would also trace the sub-surface water and ice using the ground-penetrating radar.

Tianwen-1

Tianwen-1 is an interplanetary mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Under the mission, the CNSA sent a robotic spacecraft to Mars. The spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a deployable camera, a lander and a rover. The spacecraft was successfully launched on July 23, 2020 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. It was launched from a Long March 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. The spacecraft has been named Tianwen-1 means “Questions to Heaven” following the Chinese poem that was written two millennia ago. It is China’s first independent MARS mission after its probe that was co-launched with Russia failed in the year 2011.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2021