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| Scientists and engineers of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center celebrate after China's Tianwen-1 probe successfully landed on Mars, May 15, in this photo released by Xinhua News Agency. AP |
An unmanned Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of Mars, Saturday, according to state news agency Xinhua, making China the second space-faring country after the United States to land on the "Red Planet."
The Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed at a site on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia, "leaving a Chinese footprint on Mars for the first time," Xinhua reported.
Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a message of congratulations to all the people involved in the mission.
"You were brave enough for the challenge, pursued excellence and placed our country in the advanced ranks of planetary exploration," he said. "Your outstanding achievement will forever be etched in the memories of the motherland and the people."
The craft left its parked orbit at about 1 a.m. (local time - Beijing), and three hours later the landing module separated from the orbiter and entered the Martian atmosphere, the official China Space News said.
It said the landing process consisted of "nine minutes of terror" as the module decelerates and then slowly descends.
The official landing time was 7:18 a.m. (local time), Xinhua said, citing the China National Space Administration. The craft took more than 17 minutes to unfold its solar panels and antenna and send signals to ground controllers more than 320 million kilometers away.
A deployed rover, named Zhurong, will now survey the landing site before departing from its platform to conduct inspections. Named after a mythical Chinese god of fire, Zhurong has six scientific instruments including a high-resolution topography camera.
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| Visitors pass by an exhibition depicting rovers on Mars in Beijing, May 14. AP-Yonhap |
It will study the planet's surface soil and atmosphere. Zhurong will also look for signs of ancient life, including any sub-surface water and ice, using a ground-penetrating radar.
Tianwen-1, or "Questions to Heaven," named after a Chinese poem written 2,000 years ago, is China's first independent mission to Mars. A probe co-launched with Russia in 2011 failed to escape Earth's orbit.
The five-ton spacecraft blasted off from the southern Chinese island of Hainan in July last year, launched by the powerful Long March 5 rocket.
After more than six months in transit, Tianwen-1 reached the planet in February where it had since been in orbit.
If Zhurong is successfully deployed, China will be the first country to orbit and land a spacecraft, and release a rover on its maiden mission to Mars.
Tianwen-1 was one of three that reached Mars in February, with U.S. rover Perseverance successfully touching down Feb. 18 in a huge depression called the Jezero Crater, more than 2,000 km away from Utopia Planitia.
Hope, launched by the United Arab Emirates and the third spacecraft to arrive at Mars in February this year, is not designed to make a landing, and is currently orbiting the planet gathering data on its weather and atmosphere.
The first successful landing ever was made by NASA's Viking 1 in July 1976 and then Viking 2 in September that year. A Mars probe launched by the former Soviet Union landed in December 1971, but communication was lost seconds after landing.
China is pursuing an ambitious space program. It is testing reusable spacecraft and is also planning to establish a manned lunar research station.
In a commentary published Saturday, Xinhua said China was "not looking to compete for leadership in space," but was committed to "unveiling the secrets of the universe and contributing to humanity's peaceful use of space." (Reuters)
