People’s Republic of China Launches its First Independent Mission to Mars

Human Beings have a natural instinct of exploring the world within and beyond. As the earth is getting overpopulated so many have begun to look for alternatives in our solar system. Following the trend, the People’s Republic of China successfully launched an unmanned mission to Mars. It is the country’s first independent mission to another planet.

People’s Republic of China Launches its First Independent Mission to Mars

China’s largest-ever carrier rocket, the Long March 5 Y-4, was launched at 0441 GMT from Wenchang center, on the southern island of Hainan. In 2020, Mars is at its nearest to Earth, at a distance of about 55 million kilometers.

The Mars probe is expected to reach the planet in February where it will try to land in the northern hemisphere in a plain called Utopia Planitia and deploy a rover to search for 90 days. If triumphant, the Tianwen-1, or “Questions to Heaven”, the name of poetry written nearly two millennia ago, will make PRC the first country to orbit, land, and deploy a rover in its first-ever mission.

Since 1960, almost 70% of the missions to Mars including flybys had been unsuccessful, due to technical problems. Only a few attempted to land on the planet.

Liu Tonjie, the mission spokesman stated,

The mission must necessarily be challenging, and not be following in the footsteps of others completely. This is an exploration project, so there will be no 100% assurance of success. If the mission is unsuccessful, or if there are problems, we will continue to push ahead, re-establish the project, and re-commit.

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