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China's Tianwen-1 sends back high-definition image of Mars landing site
Updated 13:56, 13-Jun-2021
Cao Qingqing
The image of the landing area of China's first Mars probe, Tianwen-1, taken by a high-definition camera on the orbiter. /China National Space Administration

The image of the landing area of China's first Mars probe, Tianwen-1, taken by a high-definition camera on the orbiter. /China National Space Administration

The China National Space Administration on Monday released the first high-definition image of the Tianwan-1 Mars probe's landing site on the red planet.

The photo was taken by a high-definition camera on the orbiter of Tianwen-1 at 18:00 (Beijing Time) on June 2.

As of Sunday, the Zhurong rover has been working on the Mars surface for 23 Martian days (one Martian day equals one day and 37 minutes on Earth), moving around, detecting the environment and conducting scientific explorations. All the scientific instruments on it have started operations to collect data.

The orbiter is currently in a low orbit with an 8.2-hour period to relay data between the Zhurong rover and the ground station on Earth.

The lander and rover of Tianwen-1 touched down on a pre-selected landing zone in the southern part of an icy area of the red planet known as Utopia Planitia in the early morning of May 15.  

Tianwen-1 was launched on July 23, 2020. 

Read more: Tianwen-1 to Mars

(CGTN's Wang Yizi also contributed to the report.)

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