As more and more countries continue to participate in the space expeditions, the possibility of interplanetary missions is also garnering more and more attention. The red planet, Mars has been an obvious choice for scientists to study the possibility of life on its surface and develop a better understanding of ancient life on Mars. Since 1960s nations have been venturing out to get more information of our neighbouring planet.

The recent addition to the Mars expedition is the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission. The rover of Tianwen-1, Zhurong, successfully landed on the Martian surface on May 15, 2021, after which it has started to explore the surface on May 21, 2021 and has sent its first visuals of the Martian surface. The landing not only marked a historic accomplishment in China’s space endeavors but also made it the second country in the world to achieve the feat after the United States of America (USA).

The former Soviet Union had launched the first Mars-bound spacecraft in October 1960. Since then, Tianwen-1 is the 46th Mars exploration mission internationally. Out of those, 19 Mars missions so far have been considered successful. If it rolls safely onto the Martian soil and works as planned, the six-wheeled Zhurong will become the sixth rover deployed on Mars- following five US spacecraft- and will give Chinese scientists their first opportunity to closely observe Mars, China National Space Administration (CNSA) stated. Eight Mars orbiters are in active service right now and three operational rovers including Zhurong.

According to CNSA, President Xi Jinping sent a letter after the successful landing was announced at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, extending congratulations and greetings to all those involved in the landmark mission. “Thanks to your courage in the face of challenges and pursuit of excellence, China is now among the leading countries in planetary exploration,” Xi said in the message. Given the long distance between Mars and Earth, which stood at about 320 million km on the day of landing, and the resulting delay in signal transmission, the whole entry-descent-landing procedure was carried out autonomously by the landing module based on a preset programme and data obtained by its sensors, the Chinese space agency informed.

TIANWEN-1 MISSIONS

Zhurong, named after an ancient Chinese god of fire, will be observing and mapping the landing site and to perform diagnostic tests in the coming days. The 1.85 meters tall rover will move from its landing module onto the Martian soil to initiate scientific surveys.

The capsule had successfully landed on the southern part of the Utopia Planitia which is a large plain in Utopia, the largest known impact basin on Mars and in the solar system. CNSA further informed that the site was selected for its suitable terrain and weather for a landing, as well as for its high probability to have been part of an ancient Martian ocean, making scientific research extremely worthwhile.

Next year, Tiangong’s two space labs, two manned missions and two robotic cargo flights will be made to continue construction of the station, which is expected to become fully operational around the end of 2022 and is set to work for about 15 years

A specialty of the 240 kilograms Chinese rover is its ability to inactivate and reactivate. While on Mars, the rover which can move at 200 meters an hour on the Martian surface, is likely to face an array of difficulties, such as disturbances in sunlight reception and extreme weather in order to survive and operate. Sun Zezhou, Chief Designer of the Tianwen-1 probe had previously explained that, “The rover has been programmed to inactivate under extreme circumstances and reactivate itself when it is safe to do so.”

The rover which is equipped with four solar panels carries a multispectral camera, a meteorological sensor and groundpenetrating radar among the six scientific instruments. The semi-autonomous vehicle is expected to work for at least three months, undertaking comprehensive surveys of the planet while the Tianwen-1 orbiter will continue circling the planet for mapping and measurement with seven scientific instruments, including a high-resolution imager and magnetometer. The orbiter that has returned to its parking orbit also relays signals between ground control on Earth and Zhurong. Zhang Rongqiao, Chief Planner of the Tianwen-1 mission, said on Saturday that China has started planning for a sample-return mission to Mars, a task not yet achieved by any country.

“Its success would mark the completion of all of Tianwen-1’s mission objectives-orbiting Mars for comprehensive observation, landing on the planet and deploying a rover to conduct scientific operations. This would make Tianwen-1 the first Mars expedition to accomplish all three goals with one probe,” the space agency stated.

Tianwen-1, China’s first mission to another planet in our solar system, was launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket on July 23, 2020 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southernmost island province of Hainan. On February 24, 2021 the spacecraft entered a preset parking orbit above Mars. The spacecraft was programmed to maintain that orbit for about three months to examine the preset landing site.

The touchdown of Tianwen-1 on Mars is the latest achievement in China’s rapidly advancing presence in outer space. The landing is an addition to the recent developments that include putting the first section of the country’s permanent space station into orbit last month, returning the first lunar samples to Earth in December 2020.

THE FIRST SECTION OF CHINA’S MASSIVE SPACE STATION LAUNCHED

“Sixty years after Yuri Gagarin undertook mankind’s first space journey, China launched the core capsule of its space station on April 29 morning, formally embarking on the buildup of one of the humanity’s largest and most sophisticated space-based facilities,” announced the Chinese space agency. The launch marked the second flight of Long March 5B, the most powerful Chinese rocket.

The launch was tasked with transporting the 22.5 tonne capsule, the biggest and heaviest spacecraft China has ever constructed, to the low-Earth orbit about 400 kilometers above the land to place the first piece of the country’s space station. As of now it is only the International Space Station (ISS) which is a collaborative project between USA’s NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Russia’s Roscosmos, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), ESA (European Space Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). The microgravity lab has been orbiting the earth for over two decades now.

China’s multimodule space station, named Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, will be mainly composed of three componentsa core module attached to two space laboratories-with a combined weight of nearly 70 tonnes. The core capsule, which is called Tianhe, (Harmony of Heavens) is 16.6 meters long, has a diameter of 4.2 meters and three parts-a connecting section, a life-support and control section and a resources section.

The initiation of the space station marks the beginning of the third stage in China’s manned space programme, which was approved by the government in 1992. The programme’s first two stages had concluded successfully with six manned spaceflights and two experimental space lab missions. Following the capsule launch, China plans to launch astronauts on the Shenzhou XII and XIII missions and two cargo ships within a few months to prepare the module for docking with other parts of the station.

“Next year, Tiangong’s two space labs, two manned missions and two robotic cargo flights will be made to continue construction of the station. Once completed, the facility will be capable of docking with multiple crewed and cargo spaceships at the same time and will also be able to link with foreign spacecraft if they have designated docking hatch. It will be manned by three astronauts in extended shifts that will last several months. During handovers between shifts, the station will accommodate up to six astronauts,” CNSA stated.

The entire station is expected to become fully operational around the end of 2022 and is set to work for about 15 years.

The station will additionally be accompanied by an optical telescope that will be lifted after the station’s completion to fly together with it.

Hao Chun, Director of the China Manned Space Agency, said scientists will be able to use the facility’s unique environment to perform mutation breeding, produce special medicines and create new materials, thus generating scientific, technological and economic benefits.

The Chinese agency has signed agreements with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) on space station cooperation. An announcement inviting scientists from around the world to submit their research proposal for an opportunity to conduct their own experiments on board the Chinese station was invited by both the organisations and by now, 17 foreign nations have confirmed their participation in nine scientific tasks on the station.

While things seem to be progressing well for China’s space programme, it did gather some not so positive reactions from the global space fraternity recently when the debris of the last stage of the Long March-5B Y2 carrier rocket reentered the atmosphere and was not under control. Following speculations around where the debris would end up, it was finally reported to have crashed into the Indian Ocean. The vast majority of the device burned up during the reentry, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.

Experts had expressed concerns around the risks of potential casualties if it landed in an inhabited area but China insisted the risk was low.

LUNAR EXPEDITION AMBITIONS

After successfully landing on moon and collecting samples from the lunar surface, China’s unmanned spacecraft, Chang’e 5 had landed back on Earth on December 17, 2020. The successful landing marked the completion of the 23-day expedition of Chang’e 5’s mission, the first in more than 40 years, to bring lunar samples back to Earth. This had also made China the third country to achieve this feat after the USA and the former Soviet Union. The entire mission, without a crew aboard, had returned with over 4 pounds of rock and soil sample from the surface of the moon.

However, China’s lunar exploration plans are more ambitious. Recently, CNSA and Roscosmos made an announcement at a conference for the international moon station, inviting all interested countries, international organisations and partners to cooperate in the moon station project. CNSA Deputy Director Wu Yanhua said China and Russia will build the moon station with other international partners, the station will be another important contribution by China and Russia to promote the long-term and sustainable development of United Nations (UN) outer space activities. China and Russia had signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly building an international scientific research station on the moon in March.