24 July 2020
China's Mars mission Tianwen 1 is not designed to compete for space leadership; in fact, the universe is big enough for any country's exploration and cooperation, Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on 24 July during the Regular Press Conference of the Foreign Ministry. He was answering the question by Beijing Media Network that foreign media believe Tianwen 1 is aimed at outer space dominance.
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Link to the transcript from the 24 July Regular Press Conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC
24 July 2020
Chinese space authorities are inviting the general public to share their excitement about the successful launch of the Tianwen 1 Mars probe mission by holding an official global naming campaign for the country's first Mars rover on 24 July. The global naming campaign event was hosted by the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Centre of China's National Space Administration in collaboration with the Tianwen 1 project contractors including the China Academy of Space Technology and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. China's search engine Baidu will undertake the naming activity on its Baidu App. The rover naming campaign will be open until 12 August, Baidu said in a press release.
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23 July 2020
Three space tracking ships of China's Yuanwang provided maritime monitoring support for China's first Mars probe launch on 23 July. They were all positioned in the Pacific Ocean when the CZ-5 rocket took off from Wenchang cosmodrome at 04:41 UTC
About six minutes after the liftoff, Yuanwang-6 detected and locked its targets. The other two tracking ships, Yuanwang-5 and Yuanwang-7, then took turns to complete their missions. The monitoring process lasted nearly 30 minutes.
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23 July 2020
The Tianwen 1 Mars mission launched on board the Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang cosmodrome on Hainan island at 12:41 BJT (04:41 UTC). "The successful launch is only the first step of China's Mars mission, and we hope each of the many key steps of the long journey is completed successfully," said Geng Yan, an official at the Lunar Exploration and Space Programme Centre of CNSA.
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23 July 2020
China's first Mars probe Tianwen 1 was launched on 23 July with the Mars Landing Surveillance Camera (Mars Camera) developed by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). According to PolyU, the Mars Camera is one of the key instruments onboard the Mars spacecraft. Located on the outside top surface of the Mars lander platform, the Mars Camera will monitor the landing status, the surrounding environment and movements of the rover with respect to the unfolding and status of the solar panels and antennae.
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22 July 2020
Leonard David had a look at the several logo stickers on the payload fairing of the Long March 5 which is currently readied for its launch to Mars. He found out the details about international involvement in China's first fully fledged Mars mission (Yinghuo not counted): "Following the completion of multiple integrated rehearsals, China is ready for the launch of its first fully home-grown Mars mission. At the Long March-5 rollout, the booster's protective payload fairing was seen to be adorned with European (ESA), French (CNES), Argentine (CONAE) and Austrian (FFG) space agency logos, in addition to that of the CNSA."
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