China Launches Ambitious Mission To Mars

"A heavy-lift Long March-5 roared off a launch pad on Hainan Island on Thursday carrying China's hopes for its first successful Mars mission — an ambitious project to send an orbiter, lander and rover to the red planet in one shot."

"If everything goes according to plan, Tianwen-1 will be China's first successful mission to Mars, after a previous attempt failed in 2011 — gaining it membership in an elite club, including only the U.S. and Russia, of nations that have successfully landed on the planet. (Even so, the Soviet Union's Mars 3 lander, which touched down in 1971, transmitted for mere seconds before contact was lost.)"

"Thursday's launch of Tianwen-1 took place at about 12:40 p.m. local time (12:40 a.m. ET) from Wenchang Spaceport on Hainan in the South China Sea."

"Within 45 minutes, launch commander Zhang Xueyu announced to a cheering control room that the spacecraft had 'accurately entered the scheduled orbit.'"

"Earlier this month in Nature Astronomy, members of the mission team detailed their objectives for the spacecraft."

"'Tianwen-1 is going to orbit, land and release a rover all on the very first try, and coordinate observations with an orbiter. No planetary missions have ever been implemented in this way,' they said."

"The goals of the mission are to map surface geology, examine soil characteristics and water distribution, measure the Martian ionosphere and climate and study the planet's magnetic and gravitational fields."