China’s Tianwen-1 mission on February 10, 2021 successfully entered the orbit of Mars. It is the first time that a Chinese mission has been able to successfully make a journey to another planet.
- The milestone makes China the sixth space agency to get a probe to Mars, joining the United States, the Soviet Union, the European Space Agency, India and the United Arab Emirates, whose Hope orbiter made it to the Red Planet on February 9, 2021.
- In about three months, the Tianwen-1 will attempt to send a landing capsule onto a massive plain in the northern hemisphere known as Utopia Planitia.
- The scientific goals of the Tianwen-1 mission include studying Mars topography and geology and determining the composition of the surface material, climate and environment.
- China launched Tianwen-1 along with the UAE’s Hope mission and NASA’s Perseverance rover mission in July 2020.
