China’s first deep space mission, Tianwen, or “Questions to Heaven,” launched from Hainan island this morning at 00:41 Beijing time (08:41 UTC), and has joined the U.A.E.’s Hope (Al Amal) spacecraft on the long journey to Mars. NASA has announced that its Perseverance rover will be launched on July 30. All of the craft should arrive at the Red Planet in February 2021. But what China is planning for Tianwen has never been done before.
Instead of doing a first mission to orbit Mars and then on a subsequent mission deploying a stationary lander, and then a rover, China will do all three on this first mission. (Half of all Mars missions have failed, and only the U.S. has ever succeeded in landing and operating a rover on Mars.)
During China Global Television Network’s “Dialogue” broadcast on the mission today, senior rocket engineer Yang Yuguang was asked, why do all three things at once? He explained that each provides a different view of the planet. “The orbiter gives you an overall, remote sensing view of the planet. You also need more detailed information than you get on the ground. If you can combine all three in to one mission you save money.”
“Is there a race to Mars?” Yang was asked. He replied, “Yes, but today it is driven by scientific competition. And also collaboration, such as with China on the Chang’e series of lunar missions.”
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted: “With today’s launch, China is on its way to join the community of international scientific explorers at Mars. The United States, Europe, Russia, India, and soon the U.A.E. will welcome you to Mars to embark on an exciting year of scientific discovery. Safe travels Tianwen-1!” SpaceX chief Elon Musk also tweeted: “Impressive Tianwen-1 Mars rover mission launched by China today.”