China’s Mars orbiter has beamed back high-resolution images, revealing geographic features of the red planet in detail.
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The photos taken by Tianwen-1 come a week after the United States released a panorama of the Martian surface snapped by the rover Perseverance.
They also come as China prepares to unveil a new five-year plan centred on science and hi-tech innovation, with aerospace technology expected to be a priority programme.
Chinese mission spokesman Liu Tongjie told state television that two of the orbiter’s images were snapped at an altitude of about 330km (205 miles) and had a resolution down to 70cm (27 inches), revealing fine details of the Martian landscape.
“These two pictures clearly show craters, mountain ridges and dunes,” said Liu, from the China National Space Administration.
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“One image shows a crater with a diameter of about 620 metres and clearly displays the lines at the bottom of the crater.”
An image of Mars taken by China’s Tianwen-1 shows fine ridges on the bottom of a crater. Photo: Reuters/CNSA
A colour photo was taken of the northern polar region at an altitude of 5,000km.
