May 14, 2021

In the wake of China's successful launch of the Tianhe core cabin, the first section for the country's first space station, into planned orbit, stargazers from all over the world have now turned their heads once again to Mars, looking forward to the event of China's Tianwen-1 probe's upcoming landing somewhere in the southern part of a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia on the Red Planet.

Aiming to achieve “orbiting, landing and roving” all in one mission, China's Tianwen-1 probe, which managed to smoothly reach Martian parking orbit in February, has entered crucial touchdown stage. The probe will land on the Red Planet at a selected time between early Saturday morning and Wednesday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Friday afternoon.

Chinese space observers expressed high confidence over the upcoming landing of Tianwen-1, citing the repeated success of the Chang'e lunar probe missions that included a similar automatic landing stage, which provided valuable experience.

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