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China Probe Successfully Enters Mars Orbit After Seven-Month Voyage
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February 10, 2021
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0:53Now PlayingChina's Tianwen-1 probe successfully entered orbit around Mars on Wednesday after a nearly seven-month voyage from Earth.
A 3000N engine was ignited at 19:52 (Beijing time) to decelerate Tianwen-1, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
After about 15 minutes, the spacecraft, including an orbiter, a lander and a rover, had slowed enough to be captured by Mars' gravity and entered an elliptical orbit around the red planet, with its closest distance from the Martian surface at about 400 km. It will take Tianwen-1 about 10 Earth days to complete one full orbit of the planet.
The development marks China's completion of a key step in its current Mars exploration program, which is designed to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one mission, said the CNSA.
"Entering Mars' orbit is a challenging task. The key is the probe's autonomous control. Scientists have preset an entry program on the probe. When approaching Mars, the probe will finish the orbital entry process by itself. The probe will circle around the planet, which means communication will be difficult once it reaches Mars' far side. Even if we sent a signal from Earth, it wouldn't reach the probe in time. So, the probe will need to solve most major malfunctions - if there are any - that arise according to these preset programs," said Wang Chuang, chief designer of Tianwen-1.
After entering Mars’ orbit, payloads aboard the orbiter, including cameras and various particle analyzers, will next start working and carry out surveys of the planet.
Tianwen-1 was launched via a Long March-5 rocket, China's largest launch vehicle, from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of southern China's island province of Hainan on July 23, 2020.
Tianwen-1 has been traveling in space for 202 days. It has carried out four orbital corrections and a deep-space maneuver. It has flown 475 million km and was 192 million km from Earth when it reached Mars’ orbit.
A steerable radio telescope with a 70-meter-diameter antenna in Wuqing District of northern China's Tianjin City is a key facility receiving scientific data sent back by the Mars probe. The one-way communication delay is about 10.7 minutes.
Tianwen-1 will now conduct multiple orbital corrections to enter a temporary Mars parking orbit, surveying potential landing sites in preparation to land in May or June.
Following the CNSA announcement, the European Space Agency (ESA) tweeted on Wednesday to congratulate China on Tianwen-1's successful orbit entry.
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