The orbiter-rover combo became the\u00a0second spacecraft\u00a0in two days to reach the red planet. An orbiter from the United Arab Emirates led the way on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
A US rover called Perseverance is also aiming for a February 18 touchdown next week on Mars to search for signs of ancient microscopic life and to collect rocks for a return to Earth in the next decade.<\/p>\n
All three Mars missions\u00a0launched\u00a0last July to take advantage of the planet\u2019s close alignment with Earth that occurs only every two years.<\/p>\n
The Chinese mission is its most ambitious yet. If all goes as planned, the rover will separate from the spacecraft in a few months and touch down safely on Mars, making China only the second nation to pull off such a feat.<\/p>\n
![\"China-spacecraft-enters-Mars-orbit-2nd-in-two-days-after-UAE-rapid-news-rapidnews-dailyrapidnews\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/China-spacecraft-enters-Mars-orbit-2nd-in-two-days-after-UAE-rapid-news-rapidnews-dailyrapidnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Only the US has successfully touched down on Mars \u2014 eight times beginning with the two Viking missions. A lander and rover are in operation today.<\/p>\n
Tianwen, the title of an ancient poem, means \u201cQuest for Heavenly Truth\u201d.<\/p>\n
Landing a spacecraft on Martian soil is notoriously difficult, and China\u2019s attempt will involve a parachute, back-firing rockets and airbags. Its proposed landing site is inside the massive, rock-strewn, Utopia Planitia, where the US Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976.<\/p>\n
The solar-powered rover \u2014 about the size of a golf cart \u2014 is expected to operate for about three months, and the orbiter for two years.<\/p>\n
The UAE\u2019s orbiter called Amal, Arabic for Hope, began circling the red planet on Tuesday to gather detailed data on Mars\u2019 atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Six others were already operating around Mars: three US, two European and one Indian.<\/p>\n
Many others haven\u2019t made it. Smashed Russian and European spacecraft litter the Martian landscape along with a failed US lander. About a dozen orbiters missed the mark.<\/p>\n
Tianwen-1 is China\u2019s second attempt to send a spacecraft to Mars. In 2011, a Chinese orbiter that was part of a Russian mission didn\u2019t make it out of Earth’s orbit.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s secretive, military-linked space programme has progressed considerably since then. In December, its Chang\u2019e 5 mission was the first to bring lunar rocks to Earth since the 1970s. China was also the first country to land a spacecraft on the little-explored far side of the moon in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Chinese spacecraft entered Mars’ orbit on Wednesday on a mission to land a rover,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n