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China’s Tianwen-1 probe sent its first image of Mars, the Chinese space agency said, as the mission prepares to land later this year.
The spacecraft, launched in July around the same time as a US mission, is expected to enter the orbit of Mars around February 10.
The photo released by the China National Space Administration shows geological features including the Schiaparelli crater and Valles Marineris, a vast stretch of canyons on the Martian surface.
The photo was taken from about 2.2 million kilometers away, the CNSA said, with the spacecraft since it reached 1.1 million kilometers from the planet.
The robotic spacecraft fired one of its engines to make an orbital correction on Friday and was expected to slow down before being captured by Martian gravity around Feb.10, the agency said.
The five-ton Tianwen-1 includes an orbiter, a lander, and a Mars rover that will study the planet’s soil.
China hopes to land the rover in May in Utopia, a massive impact basin.
China has invested billions of dollars in its military-led space program and first sent a human into space in 2003. Its goal is to mount a space station in Earth orbit by 2022.
Mars has always been a challenging target, and most missions sent by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and India since 1960 have ended in failure.
Tianwen-1 is not China’s first attempt to reach Mars. A previous mission with Russia in 2011 ended prematurely because the launch failed.
China has sent two rovers to the moon, one of them becoming the first to make a successful soft landing on the other side.
