Second of Three Mars Missions this Synod Set to Go Tonight

[Yazata]

This second one is Chinese, called Tianwen-1. ('Tianwen' means 'Heavenly Questions', I like it.) The first in the current flurry of Mars missions was the UAE Hope Mars orbiter that got off successfully from Japan on Sunday. The third act is the headliner, NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance next Thursday. So each of the three get progressively more ambitious.

Tianwen-1's launch window is from Midnight to 3:00 AM EDT Thursday morning July 23. (9:00 PM - Midnight Wednesday night PDT, 4:00 - 7:00 Thursday UTC) It isn't going to be livestreamed (it's China, they don't typically do that). There may be private Chinese outside the launch site on Hainan Island posting photos of the ascending rocket on the internet, but it would be Chinese social media and the photos may be taken down quickly as they aren't officially authorized.

Tianwen-1 is China's first interplanetary mission and first attempt at a Mars lander/rover.

It consists of a large Mars orbiter that will arrive in February 2021 with cameras and instruments. Then two months later in April 2021 it will release a lander that will attempt to land on Mars' surface. Landing on Mars is very difficult and only the US has had consistent success doing it. If the Chinese lander succeeds, it will release a small rover to roll around and examine geological features. Meanwhile the orbiter will continue to photograph Mars from orbit and will act as a communications relay for the rover.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/07/...wen1-mars/

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Rocket has been fueled and the countdown is proceeding.

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[Yazata]

This is a (kinda) live-stream, produced by a very rowdy vacationing Chinese family with a cell phone camera at a resort hotel next to the launch site. Watch with the sound turned off, since there's 20 of them and all they do is shout at each other.

https://www.douyu.com/3106691

Here's another impromptu live-stream that looks more professionally done. It looks like some local news people interviewing people watching the launch from the beach at the resort. Every so often it cuts to an older man who is apparently their rocket expert. It's interesting because they have been touring tracking stations at the launch site and showing their interiors. Lots of interviews, but they are in Chinese.

https://live.ixigua.com/room/6852164409603656460/

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And here's yet another live stream. They seem to be getting their feed from another screaming shouting battling family (the same one?) so listen with your sound muted. The advantage to this one is that it has a count-down clock.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/gZMAj2aH37g

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Tianwen-1, the second of the three Mars missions, seems to have gotten off successfully

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...5944783872

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[Yazata]

Tianwen is supposed to enter Mars orbit in Feb 10.

While it will be going into Mars orbit this coming Wednesday, the Chinese don't intend to try to land their Mars lander until May. (If they succeed, they will be only the second country to make a successful Mars landing.)

Here's a photo that it recently sent back as it approached the red planet

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[Yazata]

Tianwen has completed its Mars orbit injection and is in orbit around Mars. Reportedly the attempt to land the Chinese lander may be slipping from May to June, after slipping from an original target of April.

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Artists conception of the Tianwen lander landing

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[Yazata]

Today China's Tianwen-1 lander succeeded in landing on Mars, making China the second country to successfully accomplish that feat.

As usual, Jonathan McDowell has got the goods

https://twitter.com/planet4589

Belated announcement by China state media

https://twitter.com/CGTNOfficial/status/...6609435648

news story from nsf

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/05/...tianwen-1/

Another artist's conception

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[Yazata]

Cool photo from Tianwen. The lander has released a little rover which in turn placed a small camera on the Martian surface and had it take a photo of the rover and the lander.

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