China recently made history by successfully landing a spacecraft on Mars. The event marked a major step in China's space program and launched a new international research initiative on the Red Planet.
China's Xinhua News Agency announced the landing on May 15. It added, "For the first time, China has set foot on Mars, which is an important step in our country's space exploration."
China's space program has not yet been successfully piloted by many for flights to the Moon. The country's last spacecraft to land there has successfully completed collecting materials from the lunar surface. This is the first time in more than 40 years that any country has collected lunar objects for return to Earth.
Landing a spacecraft on Mars is much more difficult than landing on the Moon. The vehicles need special equipment to protect them from the scorching heat of the Martian atmosphere. The spacecraft requires special rockets to reduce its speed and timely deployment of parachutes to prevent accidental landings.
Historically, there have been many landing accidents on Mars. So far, only three countries - the United States, China and the Soviet Union - have successfully landed the spacecraft.
The United States has made nine successful missions to Mars since 1976. This includes its most recent mission involving the US space agency NASA's Diligence Analyzer, or rover. The USSR's Mars 3 spacecraft landed safely in 1971. But that mission was completed seconds later. Few when the spacecraft's equipment malfunctioned.
There are other spacecraft currently in orbit around Mars. The United Arab Emirates launched one of them and arrived in February. The UAE Mars Exploration Mission monitors atmospheric conditions from a very high orbit. The other three spacecraft in orbit are from the United States, two from Europe and one Indian .
The Chinese spacecraft Tianwen-1 - which includes an orbiter, lander and rover - spent seven months orbiting Mars. It landed at Utopia Planetia, a large flat region in the northern part of the planet.
Its rover, Jurong, is named after the Chinese god of fire. The six-wheeled solar-powered car weighs 240 kg. It has several cameras and other instruments that use radar, lasers and sensors to measure atmospheric conditions and magnetic forces.
Jurong is the study of the planet's surface soils and atmosphere. Like previous and current NASA rover vehicles, it also looks for signs of ancient life, including ice and any other water beneath the planet's surface. Data collected by Jurong will be returned to Earth via the Tianwen-1 orbit. Last week, China released the first images of the rover from Mars.
Roberto Orossi is a planetary scientist at the Institute of Radiology in Bologna, Italy. He said previous studies would help confirm the presence of an important part of the permafrost work in the region around Utopia Planetia.
Studies have found evidence that permafrost may be hidden beneath the surface. Radar equipment that searches the rover's ground can detect signs of this perpetual frost, Orosei said.
Learning the depths of this permafrost and learning more about its formation may provide new information about the latest climate change on Mars. Orosei added that scientists are trying to understand what happened to the ancient waters they once thought covered the surface.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson praised China's successful landing on Mars.
“As the international scientific community of robotic researchers on Mars grows, the United States and the world look forward to Gurung's discoveries. In advance, his statement said: “Man’s knowledge of the red planet.” “I look forward to future international innovations that will help in publicizing and improving capabilities,” Nelson added. “We need to land a human boot on Mars.”
I'm Brian Lynn.
Brian Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting from Reuters, The Associated Press, Xinhua, Nature and NASA. Katie Weaver was the teacher.
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Words in this story
mission - me. An aircraft or spacecraft to perform a specific mission
Permafrost - the area of permanently frozen ground below the surface
Advance - V. To develop or advance
ability - n. the ability or power to do something