China successfully launched its first Mars probe tianwen-1

At 12:41 on July 23, 2020, China’’s Long March 5 remote 4 launch vehicle was launched from Wenchang launch center in Hainan and successfully entered the scheduled orbit. The tianwen-1 Mars probe will fly in the earth fire transfer orbit for seven months, and arrive near Mars to carry out the mission of Mars encirclement, landing and inspection.



In addition to China’’s tianwen-1 Mars probe, three countries around the world have launched probes to Mars this year. Among them, the UAE’’s "Hope" probe was first launched on July 20 and is currently on its way to Mars; the US "perseverance" Mars rover is planned to launch on July 30. If you miss the last window date of August 15, you have to wait two years.


According to officials, there are 13 payloads for the mission. The seven instruments on the orbiter include two cameras, Mars orbital subsurface detection radar, Mars mineralogy spectrometer, Mars magnetometer, Mars ion and neutral particle analyzer, and Mars high energy particle analyzer. The six instruments on the rover include multispectral camera, terrain camera, subsurface radar, surface composition detector, magnetic field detector and meteorological monitor.


These payloads will accomplish the following five scientific objectives: (1) mapping the morphology and geological structure of Mars; (2) investigating the soil characteristics and water ice distribution on the surface of Mars; (3) analyzing the material composition of Mars surface; (4) measuring the ionosphere and the surface climate and environmental characteristics of Mars; (5) exploring the physical field (electromagnetic field, gravitational field) and internal structure of Mars.




There is a lot of frozen atmosphere on the surface of Mars. The rotation period of Mars is very close to that of the earth, which is 24 hours and 40 minutes. It is also inclined rotation, and the inclination angle is very close to the earth. Therefore, there are four seasons alternating. In the future, Mars is almost the only planet with the possibility of immigration. In addition, Mars may have the possibility of lower life, such as microbes. This is an important reason why countries around the world are keen to explore Mars.


So far, 45 Mars explorations have been attempted. Among them, the United States 21 times, the former Soviet Union and Russia 19 times, Japan 1 time, Europe 2 times, India 1 time, UAE 1 time. Total success and partial success are 23 times (UAE’’s "Hope" probe is still on its way to Mars, so we will not make statistics on its success or failure).


In 2016, NASA announced the discovery of a huge underground ice body in the utopian plain of Mars, with an estimated water content equivalent to Lake Superior. The utopian plain is also the landing area selected by China’’s tianwen-1 Mars rover.