China has complete its global imaging of Mars , fulfilling the prime delegacy of the machinelike spacecraft Tianwen-1 .
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation , the main declarer for the Chinese National Space Administration ( CNSA),announced the successof the commission on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Wednesday , June 29 . The commission has managed to pick up medium - definition images of the entire planet , as well as a number of mellow - definition image that beam with detail and vibrant color .
Named after an ancient verse form titled " Heavenly Questions " in Chinese , Tianwen-1was establish in July 2020 as the country ’s first sovereign interplanetary exploration mission . It consists of a six - strong ring made up of an orbiter , two deployable cameras , a lander , a distant camera , and the Zhurong rover .
The crater on top of Ascraeus Mons. Image credit: CNSA
After reaching Mars in February 2021 , a“selfie ” of the Zhurong rover and its landerwas taken on the Martian surface using its remote camera and beam back to its proud parent back in China .
Since then , the mission has been busybodied scan and see the surface of the Red Planet , collecting 1,040 GB of peeled data through over 1,344 orbits . All of this juicy data , China enjoin , will be made publically available to scientist around the worldly concern in due course .
This includes a bunch of arresting in high spirits - resolving imagery , feature vibrantly reddish pictures of some of the most crucial and challenging corner of Mars .
Image of the Valles Marineris canyon on Mars. Image credit: CNSA
Among the snapshot is a catalog of imagery detailing theValles Marineris(above ) , a prodigious system of canyon that bleed along the Martian open for over 4,000 kilometre ( 2,500 miles ) , give depths of up to 7 kilometers ( 4 nautical mile ) . It is unclear how this enormous scratch - like canon formed , but expertssuspectthat it take off as a crack billions of years ago during the planet ’s cooling .
There are also images of the Martian south pole . This is an especially challenging part of Mars because it ’s home to a vastsubglacial lake of salty waterthat could be our best snap at rule grounds of life on our planetary neighbour . Certainly , Tianwen-1 would n’t have clean up on any swim Martians down there , but the image could potentially help inform scientists in the hunt for supererogatory - tellurian lifetime .
Beneath the south pole of Mars, a subglacial lake lies. Image credit: CNSA
