China lands a rover on Mars
The feat shows off the country’s growing capabilities in space
AT 17:17 GMT on May 14th Tianwen-1, a Chinese mission which had been orbiting Mars since February 10th, made a subtle adjustment to its trajectory—one that put it on course to hit the planet’s surface six hours later. After three hours, however, it broke itself in two. One part readjusted its path so as to skim past the planet and stay in orbit. The other, a sealed shell with a heatshield on the outside and a precious cargo within, plummeted on towards the surface at 17,000km an hour.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Welcome to Utopia”
From the May 22nd 2021 edition
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