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China Mars Earth Robotics Space

China's Tianwen-1 Mars Rover Rockets Away From Earth (bbc.com) 36

Posted by BeauHD from the blast-off dept.
AmiMoJo shares a report from the BBC: China has launched its first rover mission to Mars. The six-wheeled robot, encapsulated in a protective probe, was lifted off Earth by a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang spaceport on Hainan Island at 12:40 local time (04:40 GMT). It should arrive in orbit around the Red Planet in February. Called Tianwen-1, or "Questions to Heaven," the rover won't actually try to land on the surface for a further two to three months. This wait-and-see strategy was used successfully by the American Viking landers in the 1970s. It will allow engineers to assess the atmospheric conditions on Mars before attempting what will be a hazardous descent. Tianwen-1 is one of three missions setting off to Mars in the space of 11 days. On Monday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched its Hope satellite towards the Red Planet. And in a week from now, the U.S. space agency (Nasa) aims to despatch its next-generation rover, Perseverance.
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China's Tianwen-1 Mars Rover Rockets Away From Earth More

China's Tianwen-1 Mars Rover Rockets Away From Earth

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  • Looks like Opportunity/Spirit (Score:3, Informative)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Friday July 24, 2020 @05:28AM (#60325439)

    The lander and rover components look similar to the Opportunity and Spirit missions. Honestly, it looks like a bit of a knock-off but if it works, it works, right? I'm sure the sensor load is different though.

    They have a CG demo and mock-up video here: https://news.cgtn.com/news/202... [cgtn.com]

    • Re:Looks like Opportunity/Spirit (Score:4, Interesting)

      by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Friday July 24, 2020 @05:44AM (#60325459) Journal

      The lander and rover components look similar to the Opportunity and Spirit missions. Honestly, it looks like a bit of a knock-off but if it works, it works, right? I'm sure the sensor load is different though.

      One important difference will be how to lander actually gets to the ground. The Tianwen will land propulsively, then extend a ramp to let the rover drive off the landing platform. This is quite different to the airbag method used by Spirit and Opportunity. Has anyone used that method other than the U.S.?

      • The Tianwen will land propulsively, then extend a ramp to let the rover drive off the landing platform. This is quite different to the airbag method used by Spirit and Opportunity.

        Yeah, I had forgotten that major detail... until after I posted. :/

        It's definitely a massive difference and I'll be very impressed if it works. Honestly, it would be a more impressive feat than NASA's Sky Crane.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by joh ( 27088 )

          The Tianwen will land propulsively, then extend a ramp to let the rover drive off the landing platform. This is quite different to the airbag method used by Spirit and Opportunity.

          Yeah, I had forgotten that major detail... until after I posted. :/

          It's definitely a massive difference and I'll be very impressed if it works. Honestly, it would be a more impressive feat than NASA's Sky Crane.

          It's exactly the same landing method as the Viking landers used in 1976, just that these didn't carry rovers. OK, the Chinese lander will hover a while and look for a nice clean spot to touch down, which the Vikings didn't do.

          • It's exactly the same landing method as the Viking landers used in 1976, just that these didn't carry rovers. OK, the Chinese lander will hover a while and look for a nice clean spot to touch down, which the Vikings didn't do.

            If it were easy then NASA would have used to land the other rovers.

            • Re:Looks like Opportunity/Spirit (Score:5, Informative)

              by joh ( 27088 ) on Friday July 24, 2020 @09:32AM (#60326063)

              It's exactly the same landing method as the Viking landers used in 1976, just that these didn't carry rovers. OK, the Chinese lander will hover a while and look for a nice clean spot to touch down, which the Vikings didn't do.

              If it were easy then NASA would have used to land the other rovers.

              A fully propulsive landing IS easier than the Sky Crane. As witnessed by the fact that NASA did this in 1976 already. But it also wastes mass, since instead of lowering the rover right onto its wheels you first have to land the complete craft (along with landing legs, shock absorbers etc.), have to deploy a ramp for the rover to drive off of and all of this will be used only once, making it essentially dead mass.

              The Sky Crane was just mass-optimization. It was harder to do but it left more mass for the rover to work with.

      • Beagle 2 used airbags as well.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by necro81 ( 917438 )

          Beagle 2 used airbags as well.

          Good point. Or, perhaps, it is better to say it "was going to use". Unfortunately, I think it ended up lithobraking.

    • Re:Looks like Opportunity/Spirit (Score:5, Funny)

      by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 ) on Friday July 24, 2020 @06:16AM (#60325501)
      I know, I really wanted it to look like Hello Kitty or a pink pony.
      • Hello Kitty is Japanese way to be incorrect....
        • Huge in China though. Thanks for playing.
        • And My Little Pony is American. OP was poking fun by saying he was hoping their rover would look like a children's toy instead of a scientific instrument platform. It was you who inferred a non-existent racial meaning behind it. A toy can only be invented in one place (and thus one country). If you require us to steer clear of any potential racial overtones, then it becomes impossible to refer to any toy.
          • Actually it was more of a comment on the fact that all previous Soviet and US rovers look pretty much the same as the ones that came before them, but the "knock-off" accusation doesn't come along until China joins the party. China's engineers made a rover that looks like a rover, and OP's brain automatically connected that to fake Gucci handbags.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      If you are setting the bar that low then the Opportunity and Spirit rovers look like knock offs of Lunokhod 1 and 2.

      Or more likely form follows function.

    • Re:Looks like Opportunity/Spirit (Score:4)

      by hackertourist ( 2202674 ) on Friday July 24, 2020 @08:40AM (#60325877)

      Let's see:

      - 6 wheels and rocker-bogie suspension. You could call that a knock-off, but it's a proven design that offers big advantages over a 4-wheel rover.

      - solar panel on top: that's the only place where it's practical.

      - cameras on a mast. Again, the only practical solution for a small rover where you don't want all of the cameras to be as close to the ground as the main body.

      There are major differences. As discussed elsewhere, a different landing technique. And the rover carries an instrument that hasn't been used on Mars yet: a ground-penetrating radar. Plenty of different engineering choices too: smaller wheels, far less ground clearance.

      It's a bit like claiming that the launcher used for this mission is a knockoff because it's cylindrical and uses a kerolox engine.

      • Re:Looks like Opportunity/Spirit (Score:4, Funny)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 ) on Friday July 24, 2020 @08:46AM (#60325899)

        It's a bit like claiming that the launcher used for this mission is a knockoff because it's cylindrical and uses a kerolox engine.

        You forgot pointy. A cylinder is a natural shape, like a tree. A kerolox engine is obvious. But a pointy rocket, that is clearly a black swan development that must have been stolen from Ger... uh, the USA.

  • It can crash on landing, so it is best to do a few months of orbits and observations first, before attempting a landing.
  • Mars better watch out China coming to spy on it. Might also claim more territory While they are at it.

  • ICBM (Score:4, Funny)

    by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Friday July 24, 2020 @08:15AM (#60325779) Journal

    China's Tianwen-1 Mars Rover Rockets Away From Earth

    Well, yeah, because if it was rocketing towards earth it would be an ICBM.

    • The B in ICBM is for "ballistic", meaning it follows a course like that of a bullet fired from a gun - it's fired upward and falls down. So an ICBM *rockets away from the earth* for about 3-4 minutes, then glides and begins to *fall toward the earth* for about 30 minutes.

      An air-to-surface missile rockets toward the earth.

      • I knew someone would point that out, but since I couldn't think of any other way to make a joke about the headline, I went ahead and posted it anyway. I was thinking the same thing lol.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by sconeu ( 64226 )

      This end should point toward the ground if you want to go to space.

      If it starts pointing toward space you are having a bad problem and you will not go to space today

  • Probably on its way to take out our rovers, in the same manner China took out our Space Force satellite [youtube.com].

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