BEIJING: China today (Saturday) has finally landed a spacecraft on Mars, state media announced, making it the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the Red Planet.
According to details, the Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed on a site on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia, leaving a Chinese footprint on Mars for the first time. It “successfully landed in the pre-selected area”, state broadcaster CCTV said.
President Xi Jinping sent his “warm congratulations and sincere greetings to all members who have participated in the Mars exploration mission.
Zhurong, named after a Chinese mythical fire god, left its parked orbit at about 1700 GMT Friday. The landing module separated from the orbiter three hours later and entered the Martian atmosphere.
It said the landing process consisted of “nine minutes of terror” as the module decelerates and then slowly descends. The official landing time was 2318 GMT. The rover took more than 17 minutes to unfold its solar panels and antenna and send signals to ground controllers.
The rover will now survey the landing site before departing from its platform to conduct inspections. Zhurong has six scientific instruments including a high-resolution topography camera.
It will study the planet’s surface soil and atmosphere. Zhurong will also look for signs of ancient life, including any sub-surface water and ice, using a ground-penetrating radar.
China has now sent astronauts into space, powered probes to the Moon and landed a rover on Mars, the most prestigious of all prizes in the competition for dominion of space.
Last week a segment of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket disintegrated over the Indian Ocean in an uncontrolled landing back to Earth. That drew criticism from the United States and other nations for a breach of etiquette governing the return of space debris to Earth.
