China News Service, Beijing, May 15 (Guo Chaokai, Yang Lu, Chen Gang) The reporter learned from the China National Space Administration that the scientific research team confirmed that the "Zhurong" Mars rover sent back telemetry signals. On May 15th, the Tianwen 1 landing patrol device Successfully landed in the pre-selected landing zone in the southern part of the Martian Utopia Plain, and China's first Mars exploration mission to Mars was a complete success.
At about 1 am on the 15th, the Tianwen-1 probe de-orbited in its parked orbit and maneuvered until Mars entered orbit.
At about 4 o'clock, the landing patrol was separated from the orbiter. After about 3 hours of flight, it entered the Martian atmosphere. After about 9 minutes of deceleration, hovering, obstacle avoidance and buffering, it successfully landed on the pre-selected landing zone.
About 30 minutes after the two devices are separated, the orbiter will ascend and return to the parking orbit to provide relay communication for the landing patrol device.
In the follow-up, the "Zhurong" rover will successively carry out global imaging of the landing site, self-check, leave the landing platform and carry out inspections.
China's first Mars exploration mission was formally approved in 2016. It plans to realize Mars circumnavigation, landing and patrol through a mission, conduct global and comprehensive circumnavigation detection of Mars, and carry out regional patrol surveys on the surface of Mars.
The Tianwen-1 probe is composed of an orbiter and a landing patrol device. The landing patrol device includes the "Zhurong" Mars rover and the entry module.
Since its successful launch on July 23, 2020, the probe completed one deep-space maneuver and four midway corrections during the ground-fire transfer phase. On February 10, it successfully implemented Mars capture and entered a large elliptical fire orbit. China's first artificial Mars satellite.
On February 24, 2021, the Tianwen-1 probe successfully implemented the third near-fire braking, and after entering the Mars mooring orbit with a period of 2 Mars days, it carried out a global remote sensing survey of Mars and conducted a detailed investigation of the pre-selected landing area. , Detect and analyze topography, sand and dust weather, etc., in preparation for landing on Mars.
During the implementation of the mission, the China National Space Administration and ESA, Argentina, France, Austria and other international space organizations and national space agencies have carried out relevant project cooperation.
At present, the probe has been in space for 295 days, about 320 million kilometers from the earth.
Mars exploration is highly risky and difficult. The exploration mission faces challenges such as the interplanetary space environment, Mars’ thin atmosphere, and the topography of the fire surface. At the same time, it is affected by long distances and long delays. There are uncertain environments in the landing stage, complex landing procedures, and ground Difficulties such as inability to intervene. The Tianwen-1 mission broke through key technologies such as the second cosmic speed launch, interplanetary flight, measurement and control communication, and soft landing on extraterrestrial planets, and achieved China’s first extraterrestrial planet landing, which is another significant milestone in the development of China’s aerospace industry. milestone. (Finish)