China launches Mars probe in space race with US

July 23, 2020 10:38

China launched a rover to Mars on Thursday, a journey coinciding with a similar US mission as the powers take their rivalry into deep space.

The two countries are taking advantage of a period when Earth and Mars are favourably aligned for a short journey, with the US spacecraft due to lift off on July 30.

It is a crowded field. The United Arab Emirates launched a probe on Monday that will orbit Mars once it reaches the Red Planet.

The Chinese mission is named Tianwen-1 ("Questions to Heaven") in a nod to a classical poem that has verses about the cosmos.

It launched on a Long March 5 -- China's biggest space rocket -- from the southern island of Hainan.

Chinese authorities have yet to confirm the success of the launch.

Tianwen-1 is expected to arrive in February 2021 after a seven-month, 55-million-kilometre (34-million-mile) voyage.

The mission includes a Mars orbiter, a lander and a rover that will study the planet's soil.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

It's official: Sunita Kejriwal to campaign for AAP

Sunita Kejriwal is slowly emerging out of the shadows to assume a bigger role to give a fillip to the AAP's campaigning which has been affected by the chief minister's arrest in a money laundering case in March.

Maharashtra records lowest voter turnout till 11am; Tripura highest

The IMD has warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next five days.

Recipes: Make Your Own Ghar Ka Masalas

Homemade is best. Safe. Pure. Tasty.

Have every bat that I scored an international ton with: Ponting

Ricky Ponting was not just into amassing hundreds in his heydays as a player, the two-time World Cup winning former Australia captain has revealed that he also meticulously collected every bat with which he scored an international ton,...

Bollywood's Best Way To Cool Down

A dip in the pool, of course!