China's Tianwen 1 robotic probe entered a Martian orbit on Wednesday night after a lengthy interplanetary voyage, becoming the first Chinese spacecraft to reach the red planet.
China s
Tianwen 1 robotic probe entered a Martian orbit on February 10 night after a lengthy interplanetary voyage, becoming the first Chinese spacecraft to reach the red planet.
The probe’s 3,000-Newton-thrust orbital-control engine was activated at 7:52pm (1152 GMT) and worked for about 15 minutes to conduct a crucial “braking” operation to decelerate the probe and help it be captured by Martian gravity.
Then the probe moved into an elliptical orbit with a perigee of about 400km and a circling period of 10 days, then started flying around the planet, according to the China National Space Administration.
The Martian orbital operation, one of the most important and challenging steps in the
Chinese Long March 3B launches Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing (TJSW)
February 4, 2021
China launched another secretive Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing (TJSW) satellite on 4 February. The launch took place at 15:36 UTC using the Chang Zheng-3B/G2 (known as the Long March 3B/G2 outside of China) launch vehicle from launch site LC3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
Originally, it was reported the launch would orbit a satellite on the Tianhui series and carrying a Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR, antenna to geosynchronous orbit. But a few hours before the launch, reports changed to indicate that the cargo onboard would be another experimental communications system on the TJSW series.
Long March 4C has successful launch By Zhao Lei | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2021-01-29 13:46 Share CLOSE A Long March 4C rocket carrying the second group of China s Yaogan 31 remote sensing satellites is launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China s Gansu province, Jan 29, 2021. [Photo by Wang Jiangbo/for chinadaily.com.cn]
China launched a Long March 4C carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China on Friday afternoon to transport several satellites into space.
China Aerospace Science and Technology said in a statement that the rocket, built by its Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, blasted off at 12:47 pm and later joined the second group of the Yaogan 31-series remote-sensing satellites in orbit.