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Chinese spacecraft 'Tianwen-1' sends new photos from Mars orbit

There are craters, mountain ranges and dunes are visible on them

© China National Space Agency

BEIJING, March 4. /TASS/. The Chinese automatic interplanetary station "Tianwen-1" has sent new black-and-white and color images from the orbit of Mars, announced the China National Space Agency on Thursday.

Black and white images were taken from an altitude of 330-350 km and a resolution of 0.7 m. There are craters, mountain ranges and dunes are visible on them. According to the message, the diameter of the largest of the craters recorded in the image reaches about 620 m. The color image shows the northern polar circle of the planet.

Tianwen-1 was launched on July 23, 2020 with a Changzheng-5 launch vehicle from the Wenchang Cosmodrome, located on the Island of Hainan. On February 10, it reached an elliptical orbit, and on February 24, it entered the reference orbit of Mars.

The probe is expected to make a soft landing in the southern part of the Utopia Plain in May-June. It is assumed that in this part of the planet, groundwater could come to the surface. The rover will study the soil, ionosphere and climate.

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