Tianwen 1 Mission On Mars

The Tianwen 1 was launched by China, and it is the first Mars probe by the country, formerly known as Huoxing 1. It consists of an orbiter, a rover, and a lander.

Recently, Tianwen 1 landed on Mars with a rover named Zhurong. After the US and the Soviet Union, China became the third country to land on Mars. China had previously launched a similar mission named Yinghuo 1 with the support of a Russian spacecraft, but it had failed and disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean in the year 2012.

From the perspective of the UPSC 2022, questions about the Tianwen 1 mission and other Mars expeditions are quite important.

Everything About The Tianwen 1 Mars Mission

The Tianwen mission comes from an ancient Chinese poem ‘questions to heaven.’ The Tianwen 1 is an all-in-one type of orbiter with three different parts. You should pay attention to each of them for IAS preparation. In addition, there is a lander and a rover, which will separate in orbit. The orbiter itself will remain in orbit to carry out various scientific operations and relay signals. The lander and rover will make a combined attempt at an autonomous descent and landing on Mars.

The Tianwen 1 spacecraft made a lift-off on a special Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang launch center in 2020. The landing made a touchdown at Utopia Planitia, which is a large plain region in the Northern hemisphere on Mars. The spacecraft is the first to place a radar that can penetrate the ground on the planet’s surface to study the local geology of the planet and determine the distribution of rock, ice, and dirt.

Primarily, the objectives of Tianwen 1 UPSC may be asked from appearing candidates. It was launched to conduct various scientific investigations to study the planet’s soil, its geological structure, and the typical atmosphere and water found on the planet. The lander will also attempt to analyse the surface material composition, understand the electromagnetic and gravitational fields and locate water ice deposits. So far, China has also launched Chang’e-5 to the moon and Tianhe, which is a permanent space station.

Other Missions To Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the second planet in the list of smallest planets in the solar system. It is roughly half the size of planet earth. Mars appears reddish due to the oxidization of the rusting iron rocks on the planet and typical dust particles. This information is crucial and can be asked in the current affairs quiz if you prepare for the UPSC exam.

As of now, several other missions have been launched to Mars. Among them are the following:

• NASA’s Perseverance Rover.
• Hope Mars mission by UAE is also UAE’s first mission to the interplanetary system.
• Mangalyaan by India. It was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh by the Indian Space Research Organization in November 2013. The orbiter was launched on a PSLV C25 rocket to study the Martian surface and the composition of minerals while scanning the atmosphere of the red planet for methane, which could indicate the presence of life on the planet.

This information will help you prepare for IAS Exam and UPSC Prelims, where these topics are most likely to be asked.

Students should also equip themselves with knowledge about Mars while studying the UPSC syllabus and collecting UPSC notes.

One rotation of the red planet completes in 24.6 hours which is nearly similar to earth, which completes its rotation in 23.9 hours. The axis of rotation of Mars is tilted at 25 degrees while it orbits the sun. The earth’s tilt is somewhat similar at 23.4 degrees. Like earth, different seasons are also observed on Mars, but they tend to last longer on the red planet than on earth. A day on Mars is called ‘sol,’ a short way to denote a solar day.

To Sum Up

If you are preparing for UPSC 2022, you should remember to cover this topic and understand everything about Tianwen 1. Since it is a recent topic, many questions are expected to be asked and test your knowledge in current affairs.

Get the complete List of Space Centers and Indian Space Agencies at the linked article.

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