China named Friday its first Mars reconnaissance mission to launch later this year as Tianwen-1, as it celebrated “Space Day” on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the country’s first satellite Dong Fang Hong-1 in 1970. Together with India, the US, Russia and the European Union to reach the red planet, Mars’ Chinese mission plans to complete the runway, landing and roaming in one mission.
China National Space Administration (CNSA) called the Mars mission ‘Tianwen’, meaning Heavenly Questions or Questions in Heaven, a poem written by the famous Chinese poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC) # In “Tianwen”, Qu Yuan composed a series of verse questions about the sky, stars, natural phenomena, myths and the real world, and expressed doubts about some traditional concepts and the spirit of the search for truth.
The CNSA said that all Chinese planetary exploration missions in the future will be called the Tianwen series, which means the perseverance of the Chinese nation in pursuing truth and science and exploring nature and the universe, the state-run reported news agency Xinhua. China has grown into a major space power in recent years with manned space missions and landing a rover in the dark side of the moon. It is currently building its own space station.
However, China’s attempts to send an exploration probe to Mars called Yinghuo-1 in a Russian spacecraft in 2011 failed shortly after launch and were declared lost and later burned on return. The US, Russia and the EU have so far managed to send missions to Mars that are considered to be the most complex space mission besides India.
India was the first Asian country to successfully launch its Mars mission, Mangalyaan, which entered the orbit of the red planet in 2014. India was also the first country to enter the first Mars orbit.
Last year, China conducted an important experiment to land a rover on Mars. The test was performed under simulated conditions. The experiment was conducted on a test site, the largest in Asia for test landing on alien bodies.
Commenting on the experiment, Ye Peijian, the chief scientist’s space scientist and deep space missions, told official media in November last year that China’s mission to Mars includes a spacecraft, a landing craft, and a detachable rover covering the surface of Mars roam, all in one mission. “If we succeed, it will be a first in the history of the Mars expedition in the world,” he said.
Landing safely on Mars is one of the biggest challenges for the mission, he said. The experiment simulated Martian gravity, about a third of Earth’s gravity, to test the lander’s design.
President Xi Jinping has made China’s space scientists greener and said he expected space workers to accelerate the construction of the powerful space industry. Xi pointed out that no matter how circumstances change, the spirit of self-reliance and hard work should not be lost. In the new era, workers in the aerospace sector must follow the example set by older scientists to courageously overcome difficulties and obstacles to further develop aerospace science and technology.
China successfully launched its first satellite Dong Fang Hong-1 on April 24, 1970, beginning the exploration of the universe and space by the nation. Since 2016, China has set April 24 as the country’s space day.
