It's the second nation, next to USA, able to make a rover landing on the surface of the Red Planet.

A 10 months travel in space towards Mars, the last 3 spent in orbit around it and then, the landing. Last night, next to United States, China became the second nation to make a rover landing on Mars. 

The lander Tianwen-1 touched the surface after a 3 hours period after its separation from the orbiter. It entered in the mars atmosphere at 125 km height and passing through it for a "9 minutes of horror", a little longer than the usual 7 minutes period, necessary to complete the crossing of the entire atmosphere. The next step will forecast the exit of the rover Zhurong, starting the scientific mission.

Credits: CNSA

Open the parachute, get rid of the heat shield, get rid of the parachute, turn on the rear rockets, identify a suitable site for landing and complete the descent: this was the operations sequence accomplished by the lander. A very complicated operation, just realized by the United States (URSS made it in the 1971 with Mars 3, but signal was lost after few seconds). Just a particular: China made it... on the first try! 

Equipped with seven scientific instruments - cameras, a radar for the study of the subsoil, a magnetic field detector and a weather station and running on solar panels, when it comes into action it will be the third operational rover on Mars, together with Curiosity and Perseverance. 

Next step: Rosalind, 2023. Come on, ESA, it's your turn now!

See you next time