Chinese spacecraft acquires images of entire planet of Mars
An image of Mars taken by China’s Tianwen-1 unmanned probe is seen in this handout image released by China National Space Administration (CNSA) June 29, 2022. CNSA/Handout via REUTERS
BEIJING — An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft has acquired imagery data covering all of Mars, including visuals of its south pole, after circling the planet more than 1,300 times since early last year, state media reported on Wednesday.
China’s Tianwen-1 successfully reached the Red Planet in February 2021 on the country’s inaugural mission there. A robotic rover has since been deployed on the surface as an orbiter surveyed the planet from space.
An image of Mars captured by Chinese rover Zhurong of the Tianwen-1 mission is seen in this image released by China National Space Administration (CNSA) June 29, 2022. CNSA/Handout via REUTERS
Among the images taken from space were China’s first photographs of the Martian south pole, where almost all of the planet’s water resources are locked.
In 2018, an orbiting probe operated by the European Space Agency had discovered water under the ice of the planet’s south pole. read more
Locating subsurface water is key to determining the planet’s potential for life, as well as providing a permanent resource for any human exploration there.
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An image of Mars taken by China’s Tianwen-1 unmanned probe is seen in this handout image released by China National Space Administration (CNSA) June 29, 2022. CNSA/Handout via REUTERS
Other Tianwen-1 images include photographs of the 4,000-kilometer (2,485-mile) long canyon Valles Marineris, and impact craters of highlands in the north of Mars known as Arabia Terra.
Article continues after this advertisementTianwen-1 also sent back high-resolution imagery of the edge of the vast Maunder crater, as well as a top-down view of the 18,000-meter (59,055-foot) Ascraeus Mons, a large shield volcano first detected by Nasa’s Mariner 9 spacecraft more than five decades ago.
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