Artykuły o Tianwen-1, Zhurong

[Orionid]

Tianwen-1 launches for Mars, marking dawn of Chinese interplanetary exploration
by Andrew Jones — July 23, 2020


Liftoff of the Tianwen-1 spacecraft atop a Long March 5 from Wenchang, July 23, 2020. Credit: CASC

Hyvinkää, FINLAND — China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission launched successfully Thursday, initiating a phase of deep space and interplanetary exploration.

A Long March 5 rocket launched the Tianwen-1 orbiter and rover from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 12:41 a.m. Eastern.

Successful Trans-Mars injection was confirmed around 40 minutes later by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The flight path took the Long March 5 over the Philippines and close to the capital Manila. Spent stages were planned to drop into the surrounding seas.

China’s Yuanwang-class tracking ships assisted launch operations, along with support from the European Space Agency’s ESTRACK facilities. First acquisition of the spacecraft as it separated from its Long March 5 launcher was expected to be made by the 15-meter antenna in Kourou, French Guiana.

The roughly five metric ton wet mass spacecraft is now on a seven-month journey to the Red Planet.

“The Tianwen-1 mission is a major landmark project in the process of building China’s aerospace power , and a milestone project for China’s aerospace to go further and deeper into space,” mission deputy commander Wu Yansheng said in a CASC statement.

Tianwen-1 is due to arrive at Mars in February 2021, entering a highly elliptical orbit. The spacecraft will then move to a near-polar orbit with a periapsis of 265 kilometers for 2-3 months before the rover landing attempt.

The orbiter and rover together carry 13 science payloads for a range of detections of the Martian atmosphere, magnetosphere, surface, subsurface and climate.

Tianwen-1 is China’s first independent interplanetary mission. Missions to near-Earth objects, a Mars sample return, possible Voyager-like probes and a Jupiter system orbiter are planned for the decade ahead.

Delayed landing attempt

The delay will allow the orbiter to survey the candidate landing sites with its cameras and provide the lander with the data required to make its landing attempt.

China has selected a portion of Utopia Planitia, south of Viking 2, as the landing area for the 240-kilogram rover.

The selection was made based on science goals and engineering constraints, which include low elevation to provide more atmosphere and time to slow the lander’s descent as well as the solar power needs of the rover. The landing ellipsis will be 100 by 20 kilometres.

The early part of the lander’s entry and descent will be aided by aeroshell and parachute know-how from the Shenzhou human spaceflight missions. A blunt-body aeroshell will help slow the speed of the entry vehicle from around 4.8 kilometers per second to 460 meters per second over the course of 290 seconds. A disk-band-gap supersonic parachute will then further slow the craft to a speed of 95 meters per second over the next minute and a half.

Retropropulsion systems from China’s lunar landers will then do the rest of the work. Technologies proven on the Chang’e-3 and -4 missions China sent to the moon in 2013 and 2019, respectively, will provide altimetry and hazard avoidance.

Tianwen-1 Science goals

The orbiter carries seven science payloads including medium- and high-resolution cameras, the latter comparable to HiRise on NASA’s 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. It also carries a magnetometer, a sounding radar and instruments for atmospheric and ionosphere detections. The orbiter, which will also perform a relay function, is designed to operate for one Mars year, or 687 Earth days.

The rover, designed to last 90 Mars days, carries six instruments, including a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy experiment similar to that carried by NASA’s Curiosity rover for detecting surface elements, minerals and rock types. As well as topography and multispectral imagers, the vehicle has payloads related to climate and magnetic field detections. The rover also carries a ground-penetrating radar.

Elena Pettinelli of Roma Tre University, Italy, who was involved in the ground-penetrating radar experiments on the Chang’e-3 and -4 rovers, says the instruments on orbiter and rover could potentially provide a lot of new information.

Into deep space

Tianwen-1 is designated as the first in a new series of interplanetary and deep space exploration. The missions build upon on China’s Chang’e lunar exploration exploits and plans.

Next is the tentatively named ZhengHe mission, which aims to collect samples from near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3/469219 Kamo’oalewa and return these to Earth before heading to main belt comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro. The mission profile requires launch to take place in 2022.

A mission featuring two “Interstellar Heliosphere Probes” is also being pushed. Two launches would use a Jupiter assist to follow up on the discoveries of the Voyagers. In addition, concepts for missions to Jupiter are being studied for launch in 2030, which could complement the studies of the Jovian system by NASA’s Europa Clipper and ESA’s JUICE missions.

Source: https://spacenews.com/tianwen-1-launches-for-mars-marking-dawn-of-chinese-interplanetary-exploration/

[Orionid]

Xinhua Headlines: China successfully launches first Mars mission
Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-23 22:54:59|Editor: huaxia
by Xinhua writers Yu Fei, Quan Xiaoshu, Zhou Huimin

-- China launched a Mars probe on Thursday, designed to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one mission.

-- The most challenging part of the mission will be the soft landing, an autonomous process of the probe lasting seven to eight minutes.

-- Chinese scientists are looking forward to finding more evidence of water-ice.

-- Although China has achieved a series of successes in lunar exploration with four probes to the moon, Mars poses new difficulties for Chinese spacecraft designers.

-- Extensive international cooperation has been carried out.

WENCHANG, Hainan, July 23 (Xinhua) -- China launched a Mars probe on Thursday, designed to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one mission, taking the first step in its planetary exploration of the solar system.

A Long March-5 rocket, China's largest launch vehicle, carrying the spacecraft with a mass of about 5 tonnes, soared into the sky from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of southern China's island province of Hainan at 12:41 p.m. (Beijing Time).


A Mars probe is launched on a Long March-5 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, July 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Cai Yang)

About 36 minutes later, the spacecraft, including an orbiter and a rover, was sent into the Earth-Mars transfer orbit, embarking on an almost seven-month journey to the red planet, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

China's first Mars mission is named Tianwen-1, which means Questions to Heaven and comes from a poem written by Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC), one of the greatest poets of ancient China. The name signifies the Chinese nation's perseverance in pursuing truth and science and exploring nature and the universe, said the CNSA.

JOURNEY OF ADVENTURE

The successful launch of the Tianwen-1 probe is a key step for China going deeper into space, said Liu Tongjie, spokesman of China's first Mars exploration mission from the CNSA.

"The launch is only the first step of China's Mars mission, and we hope each of the many key steps of the long journey is completed successfully," said Geng Yan, an official at the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the CNSA.


Picture released on Aug. 23, 2016 shows the concept portraying what the Mars probe would look like. (Xinhua)

The key steps include slowing down when close to Mars, orbiting, separating the landing platform and the rover from the orbiter, landing softly and roving.

The spacecraft is expected to enter the orbit of Mars around February 2021. Afterwards, it will spend two to three months surveying potential landing sites using a high-resolution camera to prepare for the landing in May.

The most challenging part of the mission will be the soft landing, an autonomous process of the probe lasting seven to eight minutes. The probe will use its aerodynamic shape, parachute and retrorocket to decelerate and buffer legs to touch down, said Geng.

After the landing, the rover will be released to conduct scientific exploration with an expected lifespan of at least 90 Martian days (about three months on Earth), and the orbiter, with a design life of one Martian year (about 687 days on Earth), will relay communications for the rover while conducting its own scientific detection.


Picture released on Aug. 23, 2016 shows the concept portraying what the Mars rover and lander would look like. (Xinhua)

SEARCHING FOR WATER-ICE

Chinese space engineers and scientists have chosen a relatively flat region in the southern part of the Utopia Planitia, a large plain, as the potential landing zone.

"The reason we selected this place is that it has both the conditions for a safe landing and scientific research value. The place has not been investigated by other countries, so the scientific data can be shared with other countries to enrich the world's understanding of Mars," Geng said.

Earlier research showed the potential landing site might be the edge of an ancient ocean or lake in the early history of Mars. Chinese scientists are looking forward to finding more evidence of water-ice.

The scientific goals include mapping the morphology and geological structure, investigating surface soil characteristics and water-ice distribution, analyzing the surface material composition, measuring the ionosphere and the characteristics of the Martian climate and environment at the surface, and perceiving the physical fields and internal structure of Mars.


Picture released on Aug. 23, 2016 shows the concept portraying what the Mars rover and lander would look like. (Xinhua)

The orbiter is equipped with seven kinds of scientific instruments: two remote-sensing cameras, Mars-Orbiting Subsurface Exploration Radar, Mars Mineralogy Spectrometer, Mars Magnetometer, Mars Ion and Neutral Particle Analyzer, and Mars Energetic Particle Analyzer.

The six-wheel solar-powered rover, looking like a blue butterfly with a mass of 240 kg, carries the Terrain Camera, Multispectral Camera, Mars-Rover Subsurface Exploration Radar, Mars Surface Composition Detector, Mars Magnetic Field Detector and Mars Meteorology Monitor.

CONTRIBUTION TO MANKIND

Mars is at the forefront of international deep space exploration, Geng said. Mars exploration could help improve human ability to go deeper into space and provide first-hand data for major scientific research such as the origin and evolution of the solar system and life.

"Previous explorations have found evidence of water on the planet. Does this indicate there is or was life on Mars, or Mars is the past or the future of Earth? These questions are key goals of Mars research and are of great significance in understanding life and the evolution of Earth," Geng said.

Mars is also a priority target for manned landing missions other than the moon, as it can be reached using existing space capabilities and its environment is closest to Earth in the solar system, Geng said.

The mission will spur the enthusiasm of Chinese scientists to study other planets and make unique contributions to scientific progress, he said.

Pushing forward deep space exploration with Mars as the starting point could help promote China's development through innovation, he added.

Mars exploration is innovative and challenging. It needs basic technologies concerning materials, components, structures and instruments for extreme environmental conditions. It needs breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, autonomous navigation, precise control, as well as remote measurement, control and communication technologies.

Through transformation and application, these new technologies will help improve human life, and set new frontiers for social development by driving leaps in fields such as science and technology, ideology and culture, he said.


A Mars probe is launched on a Long March-5 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, July 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

"Earth is the cradle of humanity, but we cannot stay in the cradle forever. It's important we have the ability to get out. Only by learning to fly, can we have a better future," said Li Dapeng, a spaceflight enthusiast from north China's Hebei Province.

"The mission requires tens of thousands of steps operated correctly for complete success, quite a test for engineers and technicians. It might fail on the first try, but let's hope we're lucky," Li said.

Han Hongxu, a tourist from Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, brought his son to Wenchang to watch the launch.

Han believed flying to Mars is the most courageous and romantic human achievement. "Like loving a person, you run to the lover, regardless of the difficulties and dangers, regardless of how far and whether you have a future together," he said.

UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES

China is a latecomer in planetary exploration. Chinese space experts do not want the goal of exploration to be reached easily. China's Mars exploration does not repeat the paths of other countries.

"We hope the mission will be innovative and help push forward scientific and technological development," Geng said.

However, the challenges are also unprecedented.

Although China has achieved a series of successes in lunar exploration with four probes to the moon, Mars poses new difficulties for Chinese spacecraft designers.


Photo taken on Nov. 14, 2019 shows the trial ground of an experiment for landing on Mars in Huailai County, north China's Hebei Province. On Nov. 14, China unveiled an experiment simulating the process of a probe hovering, avoiding obstacles and descending to land on Mars. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

More than 40 Mars missions have been launched since the 1960s, but only about half have succeeded. The success rate for landing is even lower, and only the United States has succeeded in a soft landing on Mars.

"We only have a limited understanding of Mars. There are still many uncertainties about the environment and great risks," said Geng.

If China can succeed in orbiting, landing and roving with Tianwen-1, it will take the challenge of collecting and bringing back samples in the next Mars mission, as well as exploring asteroids and the Jovian system, Geng added.


Photo taken on Nov. 14, 2019 shows the trial ground of an experiment for landing on Mars in Huailai County, north China's Hebei Province. How to safely land on Mars is one of the biggest challenges facing the mission. The experiment simulated the gravity of Mars, about one-third of the gravity on Earth, to test the design of the lander. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

OPEN TO COOPERATION

The Mars mission has attracted active participation of non-governmental research agencies, with more than 600 domestic organizations joining the development of the probe system alone.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Macao University of Science and Technology helped develop cameras for the project, and scientists from Hong Kong and Macao were also involved in the scientific research.

Extensive international cooperation has also been carried out.

China works with the European Space Agency and Argentina in the mission's measurement and control, and with France and Austria in the calibration of multiple payloads and data analysis.

"Scientists from all sides have been in close contact, making active preparations for early and quick research results," Geng said.

Norbert Paluch, space counselor of the French Embassy in China, said that deep space exploration is one of the biggest challenges for mankind, and it makes sense to do it together. He believes everybody on Earth will learn a lot from what China will discover. ■

(Video reporters: Zhou Xuan, Guo Liangchuan, Hu Zhe, Ding Ting; Video editor: Wei Yin)

Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-07/23/c_139235669.htm

[Orionid]

China moves massive rocket into place for ambitious Mars shot
July 21, 2020 Stephen Clark


China’s Long March 5 rocket prepares for rollout from an assembly building to its launch pad July 17 at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island. Credit: Xinhua

China’s heaviest rocket has rolled to its launch pad for liftoff Thursday with the country’s first Mars landing mission, an ambitious attempt to place an orbiter around the Red Planet and a robotic rover on the Martian surface in early 2021.

The Chinese mission, named Tianwen 1, is the second of three probes taking aim on the Red Planet this month, when Mars is properly positioned in its orbit around the sun to allow a direct journey from Earth. Such launch opportunities only come about once every 26 months.

A Mars orbiter named Hope developed by the United Arab Emirates in partnership with U.S. scientists successfully launched Sunday aboard a Japanese H-2A rocket. NASA’s Perseverance rover is scheduled for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas 5 rocket July 30.

The UAE, Chinese and U.S. missions are all due to arrive at Mars in February 2021.

A Long March 5 rocket is set for liftoff with China’s Tianwen 1 mission some time between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. EDT (0400-0700 GMT) Thursday, according to public notices warning ships to steer clear of downrange drop zones along the launcher’s flight path.

Chinese officials have not officially publicized the launch date. Chinese state media outlets have only reported the launch is scheduled for late July or early August, and officials have not confirmed whether the launch will be broadcast live on state television.

The launch will be the first operational flight of China’s Long March 5 rocket, the most powerful launch vehicle in the country’s inventory. Ground crews at the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island — China’s newest launch site — transferred the Long March 5 rocket to its launching stand Friday for final pre-flight checkouts.

China has launched four Long March 5 rockets since the heavy-lift launcher debuted in 2016. Three of the four missions have been successful, including the last two test flights.

The Long March 5 will aim to send the Tianwen 1 spacecraft away from Earth on a seven-month trip to Mars. The ambitious mission is China’s first probe to another planet, following a series of progressively complex robotic expeditions to the moon.

Most recently, China has landed two rovers on the moon, including the first to explore the surface of the lunar far side. The next Chinese lunar mission, named Chang’e 5, is scheduled for launch late this year on a mission to return samples from the moon.

China kicked off development of the Mars mission in 2016.

It will be the country’s second attempt to reach Mars with a robotic probe, following the Yinghuo 1 orbiter, which was stranded in Earth orbit after launch as a piggyback payload on Russia’s failed Phobos-Grunt mission.


Artist’s illustration of China’s Mars rover on the surface of the Red Planet. Credit: CNSA

“Benefiting from the engineering heritage of China’s lunar exploration program, the Chinese national strategy set Mars as the next target for planetary exploration,” wrote Wan Weixing, chief scientist of China’s Mars exploration program, in a paper published this month by the science journal Nature Astronomy. “China’s first Mars mission is named Tianwen 1, and aims to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one mission.”

Wan died in May after a long illness.

Chinese officials announced the Tianwen name for the country’s planetary missions in April. The name Tianwen comes from the work of ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan, meaning “quest for heavenly truth,” according to the China National Space Administration, or CNSA, the country’s space agency.

“The country’s first Martian probe will conduct scientific investigations about the Martian soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere, as well as water,” CNSA said in a statement.

The entire Tianwen 1 spacecraft weighs about 11,000 pounds, or 5 metric tons, fully fueled for launch, according to the mission summary in Nature Astronomy.

Assuming a successful launch this month, the spacecraft will enter orbit around Mars in February 2021, eventually settling in a loop around the Red Planet ranging between 165 miles (265 kilometers) and nearly 7,500 miles (12,000 kilometers) over the Martian poles.

As soon as next April, the lander and rover modules will detach from the orbiter to begin a descent through the Martian atmosphere. The prime candidate for the Tianwen 1 mission’s landing site is in Utopia Planitia, a broad plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars where radar soundings from orbit have indicated the presence of a reservoir of ice containing as much water as Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes.

The Tianwen 1 rover weighs about 529 pounds, or 240 kilograms, nearly twice the mass of China’s Yutu rovers on the moon.

The orbiter is designed to operate for at least one Martian year, or about two years on Earth. The solar-powered rover, fitted with six wheels for mobility, has a life expectancy of at least 90 days, Chinese officials said.


Artist’s illustration of the Tianwen 1 orbiter and rover at Mars. Credit: CNSA / Chinese Academy of Sciences / Nature Astronomy

Chinese scientists say the Tianwen 1 mission will perform a global survey of Mars, measuring soil and rock composition, searching for signs of buried water ice, and studying the Martian magnetosphere and atmosphere. The orbiter and rover will also observe Martian weather and probe Mars’s internal structure.

The orbiter’s seven instruments include a:

Medium-Resolution Camera
High-Resolution Camera
Mars-Orbiting Subsurface Exploration Radar
Mars Mineralogy Spectrometer
Mars Magnetometer
Mars Ion and Neutral Particle Analyzer
Mars Energetic Particle Analyzer

The Tianwen 1 rover is cocooned inside a heat shield for a fiery descent to the Martian surface. After releasing from the orbiter mothership, the lander will enter the Red Planet’s atmosphere, deploy a parachute, then fire a braking rocket to slow down for landing.

“Tianwen 1 is going to orbit, land and release a rover all on the very first try, and coordinate observations with an orbiter,” Wan, the late chief scientist for China’s Mars program, wrote in Nature Astronomy. “No planetary missions have ever been implemented in this way. If successful, it would signify a major technical breakthrough.

“Scientifically, Tianwen 1 is the most comprehensive mission to investigate the Martian morphology, geology, mineralogy, space environment, and soil and water-ice distribution.”

The rover’s six science payloads include a:

Multispectral Camera
Terrain Camera
Mars-Rover Subsurface Exploration Radar
Mars Surface Composition Detector
Mars Magnetic Field Detector
Mars Meteorology Monitor

Tianwen 1 is a Chinese-led project, but scientists and support teams from several countries have agreed to provide assistance on the mission.

Scientists from the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie in France helped develop a Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy instrument on the Tianwen 1 rover. Scientists from the Space Research Institute at the Austrian Academy of Sciences contributed to the magnetometer on the Tianwen 1 orbiter and helped calibrate the flight instrument.

Argentina is home to a Chinese-owned deep space tracking antenna that will be used to communicate with Tianwen 1 after launch. The European Space Agency has agreed to provide communications time for Tianwen 1 on its own worldwide network of deep space tracking stations.


Logos for the European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES, Argentina’s space agency CONAE, and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) are installed on the Long March 5’s payload fairing. Credit: Xinhua

When it takes off, ten liquid-fueled engines will power the Long March 5 rocket and Tianwen 1 off the launch pad with nearly 2.4 million pounds of thrust.

The Long March 5’s flight path will take the rocket east from Hainan Island over the South China Sea, where it will drop its four-strap on boosters — each powered by two kerosene-fueled YF-100 engines — around three minutes after liftoff. Unlike launches from China’s inland spaceports, missions originating from Wenchang follow trajectories over the sea, allowing rockets to jettison stages over water rather than over land.

Two YF-77 engines on the Long March 5’s core stage will burn super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants for nearly eight minutes. During the first stage burn, the Long March 5 will jettison its clamshell-like payload fairing once the launcher climbs above the thick, lower layers of the atmosphere.

Two restartable hydrogen-fueled YF-75D engines drive the Long March 5’s second stage. The second stage engines are expected to perform two firings before deploying Tianwen 1 on its trajectory toward Mars.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/21/china-moves-massive-rocket-into-place-for-ambitious-mars-shot/

[Orionid]

China launches robotic mission to orbit, land, and drive on Mars
July 23, 2020 Stephen Clark


A Long March 5 rocket takes off Thursday from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island with the Tianwen 1 Mars mission. Credit: Xinhua

A heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket propelled China’s first Mars landing mission toward the Red Planet on Thursday after launching from a seaside spaceport on Hainan Island, the second of three international Mars probes expected to depart planet Earth this month.

Kicking off a nearly seven-month journey, China’s Tianwen 1 spacecraft lifted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China’s Hainan province at 12:41 a.m. EDT (0441 GMT; 12:41 p.m. Beijing time) on top of a Long March 5 rocket, the heaviest launcher in the country’s inventory.

A live video feed streamed by amateur spectators near the launch site showed the Long March 5 rocket climbing away from the Wenchang spaceport. Ten rocket engines fueled by kerosene and liquid hydrogen powered the 187-foot-tall (57-meter) Long March 5 into a sunny midday sky, and the rocket quickly receded from view in the unofficial online video feed.

Chinese state media did not broadcast the mission live or publicize the exact launch time in advance, but airspace and maritime notices warning pilots and sailors to steer clear of downrange drop zones suggested the Long March 5 was scheduled to lift off Thursday.

Chinese authorities lifted the news blackout on the launch once the 11,000-pound (5-metric ton) Tianwen 1 spacecraft was injected onto a trajectory toward Mars by the Long March 5’s second stage. The China National Space Administration confirmed the Long March 5 rocket placed Tianwen 1 on the proper course toward Mars about 36 minutes after launch.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the government-owned prime contractor for China’s space program, declared the launch a success in a statement.

Tianwen 1 is scheduled to arrive at Mars next February after a seven-month voyage. If successful, the mission will be China’s first probe to enter orbit around another planet.

Two-to-three months later, the Tianwen 1 orbiter will release a lander to enter the Martian atmosphere and aim for a controlled touchdown in Utopia Planitia, a broad plain in Mars’s northern hemisphere. Once on the surface, the lander will lower a ramp and a 529-pound (240-kilogram) rover will drive onto the surface.

If China pulls off those feats according to plan, they will make China the third country to perform a soft landing on Mars — after the Soviet Union and the United States — and the second country to drive a robotic rover on the Red Planet.

NASA has landed the only successful rovers on Mars to date.


Credit: China National Space Administration

The seemingly flawless launch Thursday by the Long March 5 rocket gives China’s most powerful launcher an 80 percent success record after five flights. The Long March 5 failed on its second test flight in 2017, but has now logged three consecutive successes.

Tianwen 1 is China’s next leap in solar system exploration after a series of progressively complex robotic expeditions to the moon.

Most recently, China has landed two rovers on the moon, including the first to explore the surface of the lunar far side. The next Chinese lunar mission, named Chang’e 5, is scheduled for launch on a Long March 5 rocket late this year on a mission to return samples from the moon.

China officially started development of the Mars mission in 2016.

It will be the country’s second attempt to reach Mars with a robotic probe, following the Yinghuo 1 orbiter, which was stranded in Earth orbit after launch as a piggyback payload on Russia’s failed Phobos-Grunt mission.

“Benefiting from the engineering heritage of China’s lunar exploration program, the Chinese national strategy set Mars as the next target for planetary exploration,” wrote Wan Weixing, chief scientist of China’s Mars exploration program, in a paper published this month by the science journal Nature Astronomy. “China’s first Mars mission is named Tianwen 1, and aims to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one mission.”

Wan died in May after a long illness.

Chinese officials announced the Tianwen name for the country’s planetary missions in April. The name Tianwen comes from the work of ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan, meaning “quest for heavenly truth,” according to the China National Space Administration, or CNSA, the country’s space agency.

“The country’s first Martian probe will conduct scientific investigations about the Martian soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere, as well as water,” CNSA said in a statement.

After reaching Mars in February, the Tianwen 1 spacecraft will initially enter a long-period capture orbit around the Red Planet. The orbiter will eventually settle in a loop around Mars ranging between 165 miles (265 kilometers) and nearly 7,500 miles (12,000 kilometers) over the Martian poles.

As soon as next April, the lander and rover modules will detach from the orbiter to begin a descent through the Martian atmosphere. Radar soundings from orbit have indicated the presence of a reservoir of ice containing as much water as Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes, in the Utopia Planitia region targeted by Tianwen 1’s lander.


Ground teams pose with the Tianwen 1 spacecraft in its launch configuration, with the mission’s orbiter, lander and rover connected together. Credit: CASC

The Tianwen 1 orbiter is designed to operate for at least one Martian year, or about two years on Earth. The solar-powered rover, fitted with six wheels for mobility, has a life expectancy of at least 90 days, Chinese officials said.

Chinese scientists say the Tianwen 1 mission will perform a global survey of Mars, measuring soil and rock composition, searching for signs of buried water ice, and studying the Martian magnetosphere and atmosphere. The orbiter and rover will also observe Martian weather and probe Mars’s internal structure.

The orbiter’s seven instruments include a:

Medium-Resolution Camera
High-Resolution Camera
Mars-Orbiting Subsurface Exploration Radar
Mars Mineralogy Spectrometer
Mars Magnetometer
Mars Ion and Neutral Particle Analyzer
Mars Energetic Particle Analyzer

The Tianwen 1 rover is cocooned inside a heat shield for a fiery descent to the Martian surface. After releasing from the orbiter mothership, the lander will enter the Red Planet’s atmosphere, deploy a parachute, then fire a braking rocket to slow down for landing.

“Tianwen 1 is going to orbit, land and release a rover all on the very first try, and coordinate observations with an orbiter,” Wan, the late chief scientist for China’s Mars program, wrote in Nature Astronomy. “No planetary missions have ever been implemented in this way. If successful, it would signify a major technical breakthrough.

“Scientifically, Tianwen 1 is the most comprehensive mission to investigate the Martian morphology, geology, mineralogy, space environment, and soil and water-ice distribution.”

The rover’s six science payloads include a:

Multispectral Camera
Terrain Camera
Mars-Rover Subsurface Exploration Radar
Mars Surface Composition Detector
Mars Magnetic Field Detector
Mars Meteorology Monitor

The rover’s ground-penetrating radar would be one of the first science instruments of its kind to reach the surface of Mars. NASA’s Perseverance rover carries a comparable instrument to scan subsurface layers of the Martian crust in search of water ice deposits.

Tianwen 1 is a Chinese-led project, but scientists and support teams from several countries have agreed to provide assistance on the mission.

Scientists from the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, or IRAP, in France contributed to a Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy instrument on the Tianwen 1 rover.

French scientists, with support from the French space agency CNES, provided guidance to their Chinese counterparts on the spectroscopy technique, which uses a laser to zap a pinhead-size portion of a rock, and a spectrometer to analyze the light given off by plasma generated by the laser’s interaction with the rock’s surface.

The technique allows an instrument to determine the chemical make-up of rocks on Mars.


Artist’s illustration of the Tianwen 1 orbiter and rover at Mars. Credit: CNSA / Chinese Academy of Sciences / Nature Astronomy

The discussions between French and Chinese scientists were intended to “maximize the quality of the data” produced by the Tianwen 1 rover, according to Agnes Cousin, a planetary scientist at IRAP who worked with Chinese researchers developing the rover’s instruments.

French scientists from the same research institute helped develop the ChemCam instrument on NASA’s Curiosity rover and the SuperCam payload set for launch July 30 on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. ChemCam and SuperCam use the same Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy technique as the Tianwen 1 rover.

Researchers from France provided a norite calibration target to fly on the Tianwen 1 rover. It’s similar to a unit on NASA’s Curiosity rover used to calibrate ChemCam’s measurements by turning the instrument on a target — like the rock norite — with a known composition.

The SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance rover will us a different type rock as a calibration target, but Cousin said scientists at her lab in France will still be able to cross-calibrate measurements from Curiosity, Perseverance, and the Tianwen 1 rover.

Scientists from the Space Research Institute at the Austrian Academy of Sciences assisted in the development of the magnetometer on the Tianwen 1 orbiter and helped calibrate the flight instrument.

Argentina is home to a Chinese-owned deep space tracking antenna that will be used to communicate with Tianwen 1 after launch. The European Space Agency has agreed to provide communications time for Tianwen 1 on its own worldwide network of deep space tracking stations, and help with the probe’s navigation on the journey to Mars.


Logos for the European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES, Argentina’s space agency CONAE, and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) are installed on the Long March 5’s payload fairing. Credit: China National Space Administration

The launch of the Tianwen 1 Mars mission Thursday occurred less than four days after the launch of the Hope Mars probe developed by the United Arab Emirates, and a week before NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is scheduled for blastoff.

The ever-changing positions of the planets only allow for missions to make a direct trip from Earth to Mars once every 26 months or so. The Mars launch window opened this year in mid-July and extends until mid-August.

While NASA and U.S. scientists are aiding the UAE’s Hope Mars orbiter, NASA has no such role on China’s Tianwen 1 mission. NASA’s Deep Space Network, which provides tracking and communications coverage for numerous U.S. and international space probes, has not been called up to support Tianwen 1’s voyage to Mars.

Instead, China is using a combination of its own tracking antennas and ESA’s global network of ground stations.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine congratulated China on the successful launch Thursday.

“With today’s launch, China is on its way to join the community of international scientific explorers at Mars,” Bridenstine tweeted. “The United States, Europe, Russia, India, and soon the UAE will welcome you to Mars to embark on an exciting year of scientific discovery. Safe travels Tianwen-1!”

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/23/china-launches-robotic-mission-to-orbit-land-and-drive-on-mars/

[Orionid]

China’s first Mars mission enters orbit around Red Planet
February 10, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


A camera on-board the Tianwen 1 spacecraft captured a view of Mars earlier this month as it approached the Red Planet. Credit: CNSA/CASC

China placed is first spacecraft into orbit around Mars on Wednesday, continuing an international blitz on the Red Planet one day after the arrival of a spacecraft from United Arab Emirates and eight days before the landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover.

The global invasion of the Red Planet — with three missions arriving in less than 10 days — is made possible by favorable alignment of Earth and Mars, a positioning of the planets that occurs every 26 months. All three spacecraft launched from Earth last July.

The Chinese Tianwen 1 spacecraft — comprising an orbiter, lander, and rover — ignited its main engine at around 1152 GMT (6:52 a.m. EST) Wednesday. Amateur observers monitoring a radio signal from the Tianwen 1 spacecraft noted a Doppler shift in the tone about 11 minutes later, indicating the probe’s velocity was changing as it braked into orbit around Mars, some 119 million miles (192 million kilometers) from Earth.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/02/10/chinas-first-mars-mission-enters-orbit-around-red-planet/

[Orionid]

China’s Zhurong Mars rover lands safely in Utopia Planitia
by Andrew Jones — May 14, 2021 [SN]


An engineering camera view of Mars as Tianwen-1 enters orbit, months ahead of the Zhurong rover landing attempt. Credit: CNSA/PEC

Chinese Mars rover makes it down to surface after months of preparation in orbit.

HELSINKI — China succeeded with its first planetary landing attempt Friday, safely setting down the solar powered Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars.

The 240-kilogram Zhurong rover touched down on the dunes of southern Utopia Planitia just after 7:00 p.m. Eastern May 14 after three months of preparations in orbit and around 9 minutes after entry into the Martian atmosphere.

Source: https://spacenews.com/chinas-zhurong-mars-rover-lands-safely-in-utopia-planitia/

[Orionid]

China lands its first probe on Mars
May 15, 2021 Stephen Clark [SFN]


Artist’s illustration of the Tianwen 1 orbiter and rover at Mars. Credit: CNSA / Chinese Academy of Sciences / Nature Astronomy

China’s space agency said Friday the country’s first Mars rover safely touched down and began sending data back to Earth, joining the United States as the only two nations to successfully land and operate a spacecraft on the surface of the Red Planet.

The Zhurong rover successfully descended to the Martian surface aboard a landing platform after a scorching re-entry from a speed of nearly 11,000 mph (about 4.8 kilometers per second).

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/05/15/china-lands-its-first-probe-on-mars/

[Orionid]

U.S. senator: China landing on Mars a reminder ‘we don’t own space anymore’
by Sandra Erwin — May 15, 2021 [SN]


Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) visits the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters. Credit: DoD

Sen. Angus King: There should be no doubt that China is a strong competitor to the United States

WASHINGTON — Just hours after a Chinese rover successfully touched down on the surface of Mars Friday evening, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said the achievement puts to rest any doubt that China is a rising space power that will challenge the United States.

“This landing reinforces the point that we don’t own space any more,” King told reporters May 15 hours after returning from a two-day visit to U.S. Space Command and other military installations in Colorado. (...)

China is now the second nation, after the United States, to achieve a soft landing on Mars. King said he wouldn’t necessarily call it a Sputnik moment but it is a reminder to the United States that a strong competitor is emerging in space. “We had unimpeded access” for many years and that is changing, King said.

Source: https://spacenews.com/u-s-senator-china-landing-on-mars-a-reminder-we-dont-own-space-anymore/

[Orionid]

Zhurong rover rolls onto Martian surface a week after landing
by Andrew Jones — May 22, 2021 [SN]


A rear hazard avoidance camera view from Zhurong after deployment from the lander late May 21 Eastern, 2021. Credit: CNSA/PEC

HELSINKI — China’s Zhurong rover descended onto the surface of Mars late May 21, a week after the vehicle’s historic landing in Utopia Planitia.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced Saturday that the six-wheeled Zhurong had reached the surface at 10:20 p.m. Eastern Friday.

The rover will now begin science and exploration tasks in Utopia Planitia with six science payloads, including optical and multispectral cameras and ground-penetrating radar.

Source: https://spacenews.com/zhurong-rover-rolls-onto-martian-surface-a-week-after-landing/

[Orionid]

China’s Zhurong rover returns landing footage and sounds from Mars
by Andrew Jones — June 27, 2021 [SN]


A section of a panorama produced by Zhurong, released June 27, showing comms and solar arrays, roving tracks and the distant landing platform. Credit: CNSA/PEC

HELSINKI — China has released landing process footage from its Zhurong rover as well as video and sounds of the vehicle roving on Mars.

Footage of the entry, descent and landing shows deployment of a supersonic disk-gap-band parachute, separation of the backshell, followed by powered descent, a hazard-avoidance hover phase, and landing.

Source: https://spacenews.com/chinas-zhurong-rover-returns-landing-footage-and-sounds-from-mars/

[Orionid]

China’s Zhurong Mars rover visits own parachute
by Andrew Jones — July 15, 2021 [SN]


China's Zhurong images its own parachute from a distance of 30 meters, July 12, 2021. Credit: CNSA/PEC

HELSINKI — China’s Zhurong rover has approached and imaged the parachute and backshell which helped the vehicle land safely on Mars.

The 240-kilogram solar-powered Zhurong captured the image of the discarded items on July 12 Beijing time at a distance of 30 meters away.

Source: https://spacenews.com/chinas-zhurong-mars-rover-visits-own-parachute/