Chinaʼs probe photographed the whole of Mars

Chinaʼs probe Tianwen-1 after more than a year on the surface of Mars took pictures of the entire Red Planet.

This was reported by CNN.

A statement from Chinaʼs National Space Agency (CNSA) said the probe had completed all tasks, including a medium-resolution image covering the entire planet.

The images show the rugged terrain of the Martian landscape: dusty red dunes, shield volcanoes, impact craters, the ice sheet of the South Pole, as well as the rocks and ridges of the canyons of the Mariner Valley — a giant system of canyons.

The image was taken by the orbiter of the probe, which flew around Mars 1,344 times, photographing the planet from all sides, while the rover Zhurong explored the surface.

During his journey, the rover carried scientific tools, gathering information about the geological structure of Mars, its atmosphere, environment, and soil. It collected 1,040 gigabytes of scientific data, which were processed by scientists on Earth and passed on to research teams for further study. Due to lower temperatures during the Martian winter and bad conditions on May 18, the rover went to sleep mode till December.

• The Tianwen-1 mission became Chinaʼs first automatic mission to Mars. The space agency said the missionʼs main goal was to find possible signs of life on Mars and help scientists understand whether conditions on the planet could change in the future to make it habitable.
• China has become the second country after America to successfully land a probe on the surface of Mars and operate it for a significant period of time. However, this is not Chinaʼs first attempt to get to Mars. In 2011, there was an attempt to launch a joint venture with Russia. But then the rocket fell into the Pacific Ocean.