As most of North America went to bed last night, China was busy making history. At 12:41 a.m. EDT on July 23, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) launched its Tianwen-1 spacecraft, which carries the country’s very first Mars rover and orbiter. If China succeeds, it will be their first successful mission to Mars, and make them just the third nation in history to land on the Red Planet, after the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Tianwen-1 should reach Mars in February 2021, where the spacecraft will separate and deploy a Mars-orbiting satellite, as well as a lander and rover combo.
The orbiter’s capabilities are comparable to other spacecraft already circling Mars. It packs medium- and high-resolution cameras, plus radar and instruments to study Mars’ magnetism and chemical composition. But the lander/rover is the real star of the show.
Once the lander touches down on solid ground, it will deploy a sophisticated, six-wheeled, solar-powered robotic rover. The 530-pound rover will travel across the martian surface looking for evidence of life on Mars, as well as studying the martian soil chemistry and searching for signs of past and present water.
