The Chinese Tianwen-1 spacecraft captured beautiful images of Mars as a bright red sunlight moon in deep space.
The photos were taken separately over the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars with the medium resolution camera on Tianwen-1, China’s first interplanetary mission.
The result is two glorious shots showing the illuminated eastern hemisphere of Mars, including surface features and the dim edge of Mars’ atmosphere. The photos were taken at a distance of about 1150 kilometers from Mars.
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The image of Mars’ southern hemisphere, in which the lower part of the image is illuminated, was taken on March 16, while the northern hemisphere was taken by the same camera on March 18.
According to the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Tianwen-1 probe is currently in a pulse orbit around Mars that takes it up to 280 kilometers from the surface and as far as 596,000 kilometers (59,000 km). .
The orbit leaves the spacecraft over the primary candidate landing site for the mission of the mission.
According to the CNSA, the spacecraft’s high-resolution camera collected detailed images of the target landing site in preparation for a landing attempt in May or June.
Tianwen-1 arrived on Mars on February 10, just a day after the United Arab Emirates’ Hope investigation, and a week before NASA’s Perseverance Rover.
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