China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) reported on June 29 that the Tianwen-1 space probe has skilfully obtained photographs of the whole Red Planet over a year of exploration. “Quest for Heavenly Truth” Tianwen-1 is composed of six different spacecraft: an orbiter, two deployed cameras (one on the orbiter and one on the landing platform), a remote camera, and an unmanned Zhurong (or Zhurong) rover.
After 1,344 circlings, Zhurong’s orbiter captured photographs of the Red Planet from every possible angle while orbiting the planet. CNSA stated in a statement that the probe has fulfilled all of its missions, including capturing photographs of the whole planet at medium resolution.
On July 23, 2020, Tianwen-1 was released in the middle of the worldwide pandemic COVID-19. For the first time, a country attempted to send a lander and orbiter to Mars with the hopes of making history. Tianwen-1 was a monumental achievement for both the CNSA and space research after its successful atmospheric entry and landing. Only NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 missions in 1975 sent an orbiter and a lander to Mars before Tianwen-1.
Mars 2 and 3 in 1971 and Mars 6 in 1973 were previous Soviet attempts at this feat. Mars 2 was a complete failure, with the lander smashed to pieces and no data sent from the orbiter. A total of eight months worth data were gathered by the orbiter on Mars 3, while the lander returned only 20 seconds of data. Data were collected from an occultation test on Mars 6, but the lander failed to make it down.
While on Mars, the Tianwen-1 rover showed us a side of Mars that we’ve grown to know and appreciate: sandy dunes, volcanoes, geological features, and even the northern hemisphere. Scientists on Earth have analyzed and sent 1,040 terabytes of raw scientific information from the probe to scientists for future study, according to the CNSA.
