China's national space agency released striking high-resolution images of Mars taken by the Tianwen-1 probe, currently orbiting the Red Planet, on Sunday. The Tianwen-1 mission, which was launched on July 23 last year, covered a distance of 475 million km in a period of 224 days. In the new images published, small craters, mountain ridges and sand dunes are easily seen on Mars landforms. China's state agency, Xinhua, said the largest impact crater in the images is estimated at 620 meters in diameter.
Taken from a height of 330 to 350 kilometers
"Taken by the high-resolution camera in orbit of Tianwen 1, the rover was 330 to 350 kilometers above the Martian surface." "The craters, mountain ridges and dunes on the Red Planet are clearly visible in the pictures." "The color image was created by the camera in orbit showing the North Pole of Mars," said China's national space agency. The "Tianwen" mission, which means "to seek the truth in the heavens" in Chinese, takes its name from the verses of the Chinese poet Zhu Yuen, who lived in the 4th century BC. In recent years, China has emerged as the new power in the space race led by America and Russia with its ambitious steps towards Moon and Mars exploration missions, satellite technology and manned space expeditions. Tianwen-1 is expected to land on the Red Planet in May or June. "Chang'e-5", which the country last sent to the Moon, collected samples from Earth's satellite and returned to Earth on December 17, 2020. China was the third country to successfully complete this exploration mission and collect samples from the Moon.
