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The probe was launched in July, around the same time as a separate US Mars research apparatus. Tianwen 1 is scheduled to orbit Mars around February 10.
A black and white photo released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday night shows some geological formations on Mars, including the Schiaparelli crater and the Mariner Valley, a large complex of canyons.
The photo was taken when the camera was about 2.2 million. km from Mars, the CNSA reported. The agency added that Tianwen 1 is now worth $ 1.1 million. km of the planet.
The probe fired one of its engines on Friday to adjust the trajectory and is expected to begin to slow until “it catches the traction of Mars,” the agency said.
Weighing five tons, Tianwen 1 consists of an orbital probe, a deployable module, and a Martian to study the planet’s soil.
China hopes to land the machine in May on the vast Utopia plain formed after an asteroid hit.
In recent decades, China has spent billions of dollars to develop an army-led space program.
In 2003, the country sent a man into space for the first time.
The Asian powerhouse is now preparing to install a permanent orbital station by 2022.
But flights to Mars have been a challenging destination so far. Since the 1960s, most probes sent to the Red Planet in the United States, Russia (or the Soviet Union), Europe, Japan, and India have failed.
Tianwen 1 is not China’s first attempt to reach Mars.
In 2011, an attempt was made to launch a device developed together with Russia, but this plan failed due to the failure of the launch vehicle.
China has already sent two lunar moons to our planet’s natural satellite. It became the first country to successfully land a cybernetic device from Earth on the invisible side of the Moon and transport soil samples from there.
The CNSA said on Friday that all Tianwen 1 systems were in “good condition.”
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