Tianwen-1 sends back pictures of Mars, says the Chinese space agency

Chinese space agency reported that Tianwen-1, its interplanetary mission, that will orbit Mars and try to gather more information about the planet, has sent back pictures.

According to AFP, the unmanned probe is currently 184 million km away from Earth and 1.1 million km away from Mars. It has already flown 197 days.

Tianwen-1 has sent back a black and white picture of Mars that was captured when the probe was 2.2 million km away.

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Besides orbiting the planet, Tianwen will also land a rover on the planet to gather more information about the gravity of the planet, the soil, geographical conditions, etc. It will also search for signs of water on the planet.

The spacecraft was launched last July and is claimed to be the first of its kind.

“No planetary missions have ever been implemented in this way” the scientific team behind Tainwen-1 said in a paper in July.

Along with Tianwen-1, two other spacecraft were launched in July. Nasa’s Perseverance Rover will be landing on Mars on February 18. The United Arab Emirates’ Hope Probe will only orbit the planet from February 9. China’s Tianwen-1 also has a name with a meaning. The meaning of the spacecraft’s name in English is ‘Quest for Heavenly Truth’.

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The alignment of three interplanetary mission is, however, not a coincidence. It is planned to gain the maximum benefit from the alignment between Earth and Mars on the same side of the Sun.