Spectacular Images From Mars: “Wow, Another Surprise!”

Chinese Mars Orbiter sends sensational photos to Earth. One expert is perplexed at the tricks experts use.

Beijing – Mars is the planet that has been discovered by most space probes – topped by the American space organization NASA, which along with the rovers “Perseverance” and “Curiosity” and the lander “InSight” are three research instruments on the surface of the Red Planet. Planets are placed. But the United States is no longer the only country capable of rolling a rover over the rocky landscape of Mars: China is the second country to land on Mars since 2021.

And the United States is not alone in orbit around Mars: China has put a space probe there as well – in addition to NASA, the European Space Organization (ESA) and India.

Usually NASA missions are in the headlines – for example when the rover “persistence” solves “one of the biggest puzzles” or discovers a “treasure chest” on Mars before the first voyage to Mars. But there is much more to Chinese Mars research as well. Recently, the Chinese rover “Zurong”, which landed on the Red Planet in May 2021, discovered an “earthen volcano” that could indicate historical water sources.

Mars mission: China photographs its own spacecraft in Mars orbit

While the NASA mission “Perseverance” caused a sensation with videos of the Mars landing – the parachute in particular caused excitement among fans – the Chinese space agency CNSA is now adding photos of its Mars orbiter “Tianwen-1”. Making a name for However, these are not images taken by the orbiter, but rather extraordinary images that show the orbiter itself in orbit around Mars.

To take the pictures, CNSA engineers resorted to a trick: according to officials, a WiFi camera was used for the photographs. Space journalist and China expert Andrew Jones rejoices on Twitter About the photos: “Wow! This is another surprise of the Tianwen-1 mission! “And continues:” The orbiter apparently left a small sub-satellite orbiting Mars that took these images. ,

Chinese rover on Mars: “Zurong” also sends a picture

The images show the orbiter “Tianwen-1” not only with its solar panels and its directional antenna for communications, but also part of Mars. Among other things, you can also see the ice and red color of the surface at the north pole of Mars, which gave Mars the nickname “Red Planet”.

A new image of the Chinese Mars rover “Zurong” has also been published: distinctive terrain formations such as craters and rocks can be seen in a mosaic composed of three images. According to official information, the Chinese Mars mission has so far sent about 560 GB of raw scientific data to Earth. According to CNSA, both the rover and the orbiter are in good condition and functioning normally. (tab)