Did you remember the three spacecraft heading to Mars since mid-year last year? They are "Tianwen-1" of China, "Hope Probe" of the UAE and "Perseverance" of the USA. They had travelled more than 470 million km in 7 months in space. Now, they are about to arrive at their single destination!

Tianwen-1 has sent back its first image of Mars and is expected to land on the planet in May or June this year. Tianwen-1 is China's first Mars mission which aims to orbit and land on Mars to study the landscape, characteristics of the soil, atmosphere and magnetic fields, etc.

Hope Probe was successfully inserted into the Mars orbit on 9 February and was captured by the Martian gravity to orbit around the planet. Recently on Valentine's Day, scientists received the probe's first shot of the red planet. Hope Probe entered the space from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center in July last year. The probe will orbit Mars, study the dynamics of the Martian atmosphere and its interaction with space.

Perseverance are set to touch ground at the Jezero Crater on 19 February. There will be a live broadcast by NASA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm0b_ijaYMQ). Perseverance's science objectives include: searching for any possible signs of ancient life; producing oxygen from the atmospheric carbon dioxide; collecting and storing samples of rocks and soil, etc. Moreover, the mission includes flying a robotic helicopter Ingenuity on Mars for the first time to demonstrate the technology of airborne scouting and to prepare for future explorations.

Stay tuned for the news from Mars during the Chinese New Year! Let's wish the spacecraft "good health" and success in their exploration!

More information: http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n6758823/n6758838/c6809894/content.html