Mars probe stable; no word on reusable spacecraft: China

Beijing: China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1, which blasted into space in July, is now more than 15 million kilometres (9 million miles) from Earth en route to the red planet, the National Space Administration said on Saturday.

The administration said Tianwen-1 was in stable condition, having completed its first mid-course orbital correction early last month. It will be about 195 million kilometres (118 million miles) from Earth when it arrives at Mars around February, having travelled 470 million kilometres (292 million miles) in all to get there.

The administration, however, has yet to release information about a mysterious reusable experimental spacecraft that returned to Earth a week ago after a two-day flight.

The spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, and marks China’s most ambitious Mars mission yet as it seeks to join the US in successfully landing a spacecraft on the planet.

It was blasted into space aboard a Long March-5 on July 23 during a month when the United Arab Emirates and the US also took advantage of a shortened distance between the planets to launch similar missions.

China said the reusable spacecraft returned to its designated landing site last Sunday, calling the flight a breakthrough that will eventually provide convenient round-trip transport to space at a low cost.

No other details on the mission or the configuration of the spacecraft have been released. (AP)