The year kicked off with amazing news: A Chinese probe shared a selfie from Mars. This was made possible thanks to a camera that orbited the planet Mars and was able to take fantastic pictures.
New images released by China’s National Space Administration show the Chinese Tianwen 1 probe above Mars’ north pole, where its platforms and solar panels can be seen, and it is through the open and deployed panels that the rover gets its power to run.
Recall that the Chinese probe Tianwen 1 has been in space since February last year. Around this time, the uncrewed Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed on the vast plain known as Utopia Planitia, leaving a Chinese footprint on Mars for the first time.
As the second country in the world to land a plane on the plain of Mars, China intends with this mission to look for signs of life, including groundwater and ice, using ground penetrating radar in an attempt to figure out if there is life there now, or if there were any traces of life in past. In addition to the images, a video of the planet’s approach was also released, before the famous “7 Minutes of Terror” of the planet’s entry and landing.
The recently released photos were taken with a small camera orbiting Tianwen 1. After capturing the images, the device sent them to the spacecraft via Wi-Fi.
The images published have drawn a lot of attention from engineers from similar agencies, who are following this advance closely. According to those in charge of this project: “The probe, which is currently in orbit on Mars, is in very good condition. We can see our spacecraft orbiting Mars in working order, and we can clearly see the wings of the solar panel, the directional antenna and some antenna installations in orbit. “
