Tianwen-1

Tianwen-1天问一号
The Tianwen-1 orbiter (below) and the capsule housing the lander and Zhurong rover (top).
NamesHuoxing-1 (火星-1) (2018–2020)[1][2][3]
Mission typeMars exploration
OperatorCNSA
COSPAR ID2020-049A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.45935
Mission duration
  • 1584 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes (since launch)
  • Orbiter: 2 Earth years (planned)
  • 1382 days, 7 hours, 25 minutes (since orbit insertion)
  • Zhurong: 90 sols (93 earth days) (planned)[4]
  • 358 days (since deployment)[5]
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft
  • Orbiter
  • lander
  • Zhurong
  • 2 Tianwen-1 Deployable Cameras (TDCs)
  • Tianwen-1 Remote Camera (TRC)
ManufacturerCNSA
Launch mass
  • Total: 5,000 kg (11,000 lb)[6]
  • Orbiter: 3,715 kg (8,190 lb)[7]
  • Zhurong: 240 kg (530 lb)
DimensionsZhurong: 2.6 m × 3 m × 1.85 m (8 ft 6 in × 9 ft 10 in × 6 ft 1 in)
Start of mission
Launch date23 July 2020, 04:41:15 UTC[8]
RocketLong March 5 (Y4)
Launch siteWenchang LC-101
ContractorChina Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
Mars orbiter
Spacecraft componentTianwen-1 Orbiter
Orbital insertion10 February 2021, 11:52 UTC[9][10]
Flyby of Mars
Spacecraft componentTianwen-1 Deployable Camera 1 (TDC-1)
Closest approach~10 February 2021 (deployed from Tianwen-1 Orbiter in September 2020)[11]
Mars lander
Spacecraft componentTianwen-1 Lander
Landing date14 May 2021, 23:18 UTC[12][13][14]
MSD 52387 06:38 AMT
Landing siteUtopia Planitia[15]
25°03′58″N 109°55′30″E / 25.066°N 109.925°E / 25.066; 109.925[16][17]
Mars rover
Spacecraft componentZhurong Rover
Landing date14 May 2021, 23:18 UTC (deployed from Tianwen-1 lander on 22 May 2021, 02:40 UTC)[18]
Landing siteUtopia Planitia[15]
25°03′58″N 109°55′30″E / 25.066°N 109.925°E / 25.066; 109.925[17]
Distance driven1.921 km (1.194 mi) as of 5 May 2022[19]
Mars lander
Spacecraft componentTianwen-1 Remote Camera (TRC)
Landing date14 May 2021, 23:18 UTC (deployed from Zhurong rover on 1 June 2021 which itself was deployed from Tianwen-1 lander on 22 May 2021, 02:40 UTC)[20]
Landing siteUtopia Planitia[15]
25°03′58″N 109°55′30″E / 25.066°N 109.925°E / 25.066; 109.925[17]
Mars orbiter
Spacecraft componentTianwen-1 Deployable Camera 2 (TDC-2)
Orbital insertion10 February 2021, 11:52 UTC (entered orbit with the orbiter but was released from Tianwen-1 Orbiter on 31 December 2021)[21]
Chinese Planetary Exploration Mars logo
Planetary Exploration of China Mars logo

Tianwen-1 Chinese: 天问一号 (also referred to as TW-1; simplified Chinese: 天问; traditional Chinese: 天問; lit. 'Heavenly Questions') is an interplanetary mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) which sent a robotic spacecraft to Mars, consisting of 6 spacecraft: an orbiter, two deployable cameras, lander, remote camera, and the Zhurong rover.[22] The spacecraft, with a total mass of nearly five tons, is one of the heaviest probes launched to Mars and carries 14 scientific instruments. It is the first in a series of planned missions undertaken by CNSA as part of its Planetary Exploration of China program.

The mission's scientific objectives include: investigation of Martian surface geology and internal structure, search for indications of current and past presence of water, and characterization of the space environment and the atmosphere of Mars.

The mission was launched from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on 23 July 2020[23] on a Long March 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. After seven months of transit through the inner Solar System, the spacecraft entered Martian orbit on 10 February 2021.[24][10] For the next three months the probe studied the target landing sites from a reconnaissance orbit. On 14 May 2021, the lander/rover portion of the mission successfully touched down on Mars,[22] making China the third nation[25] to make a soft landing on and establish communication from the Martian surface, after the Soviet Union and the United States.[26][a]

On 22 May 2021, the Zhurong rover drove onto the Martian surface via the descent ramps on its landing platform.[29][30] With the successful deployment of the rover, China became the second nation to accomplish this feat, after the United States.[4][31][32][33] In addition, China is the second nation to orbit and the first one to carry out landing and rovering mission on Mars successfully on its maiden attempt.[34] Tianwen-1 is also the second mission to capture audio recordings on the Martian surface, after United States' Perseverance rover. The "smallsat" deployed by the Zhurong rover on the Martian surface consists of a "drop camera" which photographed both the rover itself as well as the Tianwen-1 lander.[35] With a mass of less than 1 kg, the Tianwen-1 remote camera is the lightest artificial object on Mars as of May 2021. On December 31, 2021, the Tianwen-1 orbiter deployed a second deployable camera (TDC-2) into Mars orbit which captured photographs of the Tianwen-1 in orbit to celebrate its achievement of the year[21] and a selfie stick payload was deployed to its working position on orbiter to take images of the orbiter's components and Chinese flag on 30 January 2022 to celebrate the Chinese New Year. In September 2022, the mission was awarded the World Space Award by the International Astronautical Federation.[36][37]

The Tianwen-1 mission was the second of three Martian exploration missions launched during the July 2020 window, after the United Arab Emirates Space Agency's Hope orbiter, and before NASA's Mars 2020 mission, which landed the Perseverance rover with the attached Ingenuity helicopter drone.[38]

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  15. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference landing site was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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