14 July 2020
China’s Tianwen-1 Mars spacecraft appears slated for a July 23 launch date (the opening of the launch window). The orbiter will provide a relay communication link to the rover, while performing its own scientific observations for one Martian year. The orbit during the scientific observation stage is a polar elliptical orbit 165 miles x 746 miles (265 km × 12,000 kilometers). The Tianwen-1 probe is expected to reach Mars around February 2021 and the scientific observation phase will start in April 2021.
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