Aiming to achieve “orbiting, landing and roving” all in one mission, China's Tianwen-1 probe, which managed to smoothly reach Martian parking orbit in February, has entered crucial touchdown stage.
This undated file photo shows an illustration of Tianwen-1 robotic probe entering Martian orbit. - China Daily
BEIJING (Global Times): In the wake of China s successful launch of the Tianhe core cabin, the first section for the country s first space station, into planned orbit, stargazers from all over the world have now turned their heads once again to Mars, looking forward to the event of China s Tianwen-1 probe s upcoming landing somewhere in the southern part of a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia on the Red Planet.
Aiming to achieve “orbiting, landing and roving” all in one mission, China s Tianwen-1 probe, which managed to smoothly reach Martian parking orbit in February, has entered crucial touchdown stage.
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A Long March 2C rocket lifts off Thursday with four Chinese satellites. Credit: Xinhua
Three Chinese military satellites and a civilian data relay payload launched Thursday aboard a Long March 2C rocket.
The four spacecraft rocketed into a 370-mile-high (600-kilometer) orbit from the Xichang launch base, situated in a mountainous part of Sichuan province in southwestern China, with a liftoff at 1811 GMT (2:11 p.m. EDT) Thursday.
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Will China Steal Its Way to a Space Race Victory?
If the United States does not start making some changes, China could soon become the world’s leader in space exploration.
Well, China just did it again.
China’s state-owned rocket manufacturer, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), recently released a video showcasing a new rocket that appears to be a near carbon copy of SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
While this news is concerning, it shouldn’t come as much of a shock. For years, the Pentagon has been warning legislators that China is building up an arsenal of space weaponry that’s not only incredibly similar to our own but also puts America’s space infrastructure at a significant disadvantage. Richard Fisher, an expert in China’s military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, put it this way, “[China] is aiming to achieve control of low earth orbit in order to defeat the United States on Earth.”