Since Curiosity arrived on Mars almost a decade ago , we are used to the Martian rovers snapping theoccasional selfiethrough movable arm and cunning digital sewing . The spot is different for satellite surrounding the Red Planet . But the Chinese National Space Administration ( CNSA ) has just proven that there ’s scope to snap the orbiters as well .
Tianwen-1 , the orbiter that successfully brought theZhurong roverto Mars , and is still orbiting Mars released a little tv camera gimmick . This snatch up an incredible " selfie " of Tianwen-1 , using Wi - Fi to send it back to the orbiter , which then forward it to Earth .
The range shows the golden spacecraft with its antennae and solar board in full sight . Behind it , the majesty of the Red Planet with a fond eyeshot of the Martian northern ice cap . It ’s not the first sentence the orbiter has used a deployable photographic camera to get a picture . It also did that in deep quad , on the style to Mars . However , it ca n’t compare to the latest one given the marvelous desktop .
The Tianwen-1 mission is a three - in - one mission with a lander and the scouter explore the surface of Mars since last May . Zhurong also used adeployable wireless camerato take adorable photos of itself and the lander . The orbiter circumstances of Tianwen-1 is designed to hit the books the visible geology of Mars from in high spirits above the planet and precisely measure Mars ’ weak magnetized field .
In its suit of instruments , there is a in high spirits - result camera that can snap image where objects about 2 beat ( 6.6 feet ) can be resolved . This may not be as good as NASA ’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’sHiRISE , but it ’s still incredible . Tianwen-1 started its orbit further forth than the NASA orbiter , getting to 400 kilometers ( 250 miles ) from the ground on its close approach , but it changed it in November .
Tianwen-1 now gets as faithful as 256 kilometers ( 165 miles ) and as far as 10,700 kilometers ( 6,500 naut mi ) in its 7 hours and 5 minutes orbit around the Red Planet . The new ethereal route allows the satellite to start working on its scientific goal as well as preserve receiving data from Zhurong , who continue to work well beyond its 90 Clarence Shepard Day Jr. expect delegacy .
The name of the mission , Tianwen , come from an ancient Chinese poem written by Qu Yuan ( ~340 - 278 BCE ) . It translate as “ Questions to the Heavens ” , a fitting name for a mission that will provide novel insights into Mars and hopefully reply some of the many ongoing enigma that still remain to be understood .
