Though this year has been tough but it has been a very major year for space explorations
and missions. A lot of major breakthroughs occurred this year. No one would have believed
that a private company would send astronauts, but SpaceX did it. Countries sent their missions
to mars for exploring the red planet and therefore bringing us one step closer to the dream of
colonising the Red Planet. Among the eight planets in the Solar System, Mars is the most
similar to Earth and is also close by. It therefore naturally becomes a high-priority
target for space exploration. Mars offers a substantial and pragmatic opportunity to
answer key questions concerning the existence of extraterrestrial life, and the origin and
evolution of the Solar System, and to explore the possibility of human habitation. With
the start of this new decade, a new space race has started. There is a race among countries
to send their probe to mars and that is clear of the fact that USA and two newcomers UAE
and China have sent their spacecrafts to mars.UAE and China will contend to become the 5th nation
to reach mars. We already have made a video about the UAE Hope mission and USA’s Perseverance
mission to mars and we link it in in our description box, go check them out. In this video will
discuss the Unique Chinese mars mission Tianwen-1. Before discussing more about it lets take
a step back and discuss how the summer of mars has been?
Tianwen-1 was the second Mars mission of the month of July 2020. The United Arab Emirates
launched their Hope mars mission on July 19, 2020, to study the martian atmosphere and
climate, which was launched by Japan’s H-2A rocket. Like Tianwen-1, Hope (also known
as the Emirates Mars Mission) is historic. It’s the first interplanetary mission ever
developed by an Arab state. And the exciting and competing summer of Mars isn’t over
yet. NASA successfully launched NASA’s next Mars rover, the 1,040 kg Perseverance, on
July 30, 2020. So you might think that, why now? Why are countries competing for going
to mars? Well, this question has many reasons. We all know about the space race between the
Soviet Union and United States of America during the cold war too, send orbiters and
landers to moon and mars. A similar space race has started today between all the major
countries and companies. It’s clear that our space explorations are continuing and
expanding in decades to come, and that there are many who want to see humans building new
societies on Mars sometime this century. Countries that can prove technological prowess today,
and contribute to our understandings of Mars’s terrain and atmosphere, are in the running
for political, military and ideological dominance throughout the next decades of this century
- just as they were in the first space race. A significant reason that this new space race
has started not only between countries but also private companies like SpaceX and Blue
Origin Since the space market is now a blooming profitable market.
Also, the clumping of launches is also because of the orbital dynamics. Earth and Mars line
up properly for interplanetary missing for just a few weeks once every 26 months and
is the main reason all these three launches were in the same month. (The European-Russian
ExoMars rover was supposed to join the launch party this summer, but it suffered technical
issues and now must wait till 2022). All three of these missions are scheduled to arrive
at the Red Planet in February 2021. So when the summer of Mars ends, we’ll still have
a Red Planet winter to look forward to. China announced its planetary exploration
programme beyond the Earth–Moon system in 2016. Benefiting from the engineering heritage
of China’s lunar exploration programme, the Chinese national strategy set Mars as
the next target for planetary exploration. China’s first Mars mission is named Tianwen-1,
and aims to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one mission. Earlier China launched
its mission to mars with help of Russia in 2011, which failed completely, unable to reach
even the Lower Earth Orbit. The period from 2008 to 2014 was an interesting one, because
the two Asian giants India and China were competing in the space race and were planning
to go to mars. With the help of Russia, China Launched its first mission named Yinghuo-1.
In November 2011, the Russian spacecraft Phobos-Grunt defined for mars and Phobos, was launched
from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on 8 November 2011 which failed later and India
then successfully reached Mars becoming the fourth nation to do so. This year China successfully
launched its mars mission Tianwen-1 successfully, which is a unique mission compared to the
previous missions. From the first space probes to fly by the planet in the 1960s to the planetary
orbiters and rovers of today, the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and India have developed
Mars exploration programmes to fulfil human aspirations. And the Chinese spacecraft will
face a tough competition from UAE’s Hope mission for becoming the fifth nation to reach
mars. The name Tianwei-1 means ‘question to heaven’,
which is taken from the name of a poem by Qu Yuan(about 340–278 BC), one of the greatest
poets in ancient china. In the poem, Qu Yuan raises a series of questions about the sky,
the stars, and natural phenomena, showing his desire for the truth, which perfectly
fits this mission.As with many Mars missions, Tianwen-1 is about learning more about the
Red Planet and, through that, for scientists to learn more about our own planet. The spacecraft
was launched from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island and ejected directly
into the Earth–Mars transfer orbit using the Long March 5 launch vehicle. China’s
Mars rover will probably attempt to land at a site in northeastern Mars, according to
a recent paper published just days ahead of the mission’s launch. The paper, which was
published last week in the journal Nature Astronomy, was written by team members of
China’s Tianwei-1 mars mission which aims to send an orbiter and a lander/rover duo
to the Red Planet. The study reveals additional details about Tianwen-1, outlining its intended
landing area, science goals, and the names of instruments aboard the spacecraft. It also
stresses the historic nature of the mission: Not only is Tianwen-1 China’s first fully
homegrown Mars mission, it’s also the first to carry both a planetary orbiter and a rover.
The Tianwen-1 probe, with a mass (including fuel) of about 5 tonnes, comprises an orbiter
and a lander/rover composite. The orbiter will provide a relay communication link to
the rover, while performing its own scientific observations for one Martian year. The orbit
during the scientific observation stage is a polar elliptical orbit (265 km × 12,000
km). The lander/rover will perform a soft landing on the Martian surface some 2–3
months after arrival of the spacecraft, with a candidate landing site in Utopia Planitia,
a huge basin formed by a large impact far back in Mars’ history that was also the
region where NASA’s Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976. According to areas defined in
earlier statements on landing areas, China had isolated a portion of the vast plain as
a candidate landing area, running from Isidis Planitia to the big volcano Elysium Mons.
The low elevation of the area means there will be more time and atmosphere for the entry
spacecraft to slow down and safely descend to the surface. The latitude, between roughly
20 and 30 degrees north, is also suitable for receiving enough sunlight to power the
roughly 530-lb. (240 kilograms) rover. The relatively smooth surface will also be conducive
for roving. The mission also benefits from the engineering heritage of China’s .The
240 kg solar-powered rover is nearly twice the mass of China’s Yutu lunar rovers and
is expected to be in operation for about 90 Martian days.There are 13 scientific payloads
in the Tianwen-1 mission in total. The seven instruments on board the orbiter comprise
two cameras, the Mars-Orbiting Subsurface Exploration Radar, Mars Mineralogy Spectrometer,
Mars Magnetometer, Mars Ion and Neutral Particle Analyser, and Mars Energetic Particle Analyser.
The six instruments installed on the rover comprise the Multispectral Camera, Terrain
Camera, Mars-Rover Subsurface Exploration Radar, Mars Surface Composition Detector,
Mars Magnetic Field Detector, and Mars Meteorology Monitor.
As we have already mentioned earlier that the Tianwen-1 mission is a unique, you all
might wonder why? Tianwen-1 is going to orbit, land and release a rover all on the very first
try, and coordinate observations with an orbiter. No other interplanetary mission has done so
in the past. Even NASA has either sent Orbiters or Rovers, but China plans to do all the three
together. If successful, it would signify a major technical breakthrough. Scientifically,
Tianwen-1 is the most comprehensive mission to investigate the Martian morphology, geology,
mineralogy, space environment, and soil and water-ice distribution. The Tianwen-1 probe
is expected to reach Mars around February 2021 and the scientific observation phase
will start in April 2021. However, China’s rover will remain attached to the orbiter
for two to three months before attempting its landing, according to the paper. It will
also be joined by the two other mars missions NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and
the United Arab Emirates’s Hope mars orbiter. The international planetary science community
looks forward to these exciting missions, which will advance our knowledge of Mars to
an unprecedented level. The mission takes its inspiration and benefits from the engineering
heritage of China’s Change lunar exploration program.
The Chinese rover is expected to operate for a period of about 90 martian days, according
to the official announcement. The rover is also twice the mass of China’s Yutu-2 rover,
which successfully landed on the far side of the moon. The Tianwen-1 orbiter will provide
a relay communication link to the rover and will also perform its own scientific observations
for one Martian year. The Tianwen-1 orbiter will provide a relay
communication link to the rover while performing its own scientific observations for one Martian
year, according to the paper. (One sol is about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day.
One Martian year is 687 Earth days.) Overall, Tianwen-1 aims to take Mars’ measure in
a variety of ways. To be specific, the scientific objectives of Tianwen-1 include:
1. to map the morphology and geological structure,
2. to investigate the surface soil characteristics and water-ice distribution
3. to analyze the surface material composition,
4. to measure the ionosphere and the characteristics of the Martian climate and environment at
the surface, and
5. to perceive the physical fields (electromagnetic, gravitational) and internal structure of Mars,”
informed the team members of the mission. The orbiter will operate in a polar orbit
in order to map Mars’ morphology and geological structure while also using the Mars-Orbiting
Subsurface Exploration Radar instrument to investigate soil characteristics and water-ice
distribution. It will also measure the ionosphere and the electromagnetic and gravitational
fields. It will investigate the surface soil characteristics and the water-ice distribution.
The rover will investigate the surface soil characteristics and water-ice distribution
with its own Subsurface Exploration Radar. It will also analyze surface material composition
and characteristics of the Martian climate and environment on the surface.
Though these countries are competing to reach mars, they will overall help humans to understand
the Red Planet and fulfil the dream of colonising mars. Soon we might witness the first man
to mars, and we hope in the coming years we might start its colonisation. The dreams are
big and the journey is tough but that’s what the human civilisation is about winning
and developing in every circumstance. So what do you think about the ambitious Chinese mars
mission? Will it be successful, as the mission is one of its kind? Let us know what you think
in the comment section below. And don’t forget to like and share the video. And subscribe
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