China to issue commemorative coins to mark success of its first Mars exploration mission

Photo shows the front side of the 150-gram gold coin. (Photo/website of the People’s Bank of China)

China’s central bank is set to issue a set of commemorative coins on Aug. 30 to celebrate the success of the country’s first Mars exploration mission, the bank announced via its website.

The set will consist of two gold coins and one silver coin, the People’s Bank of China said, adding that both will be legal tender.

All coins will feature the logo of China’s planetary exploration missions (to Mars), along with the country’s official name and the year of issuance on the front side.

One of the gold coins, with a diameter of 60 mm, contains 150 grams of pure gold and has a face value of 2,000 yuan (about $308.6). It will feature a combination of images – the landing platform and rover of China’s Mars probe, Tianwen-1, a schematic of the probe’s landing process and the planet’s topography on the reverse side.

The other gold coin, with a diameter of 22 mm, contains 8 grams of pure gold and has a denomination of 100 yuan. The reverse side of this coin will feature the Mars rover and the Martian surface.

The silver coin, which is 40 mm in diameter, contains 30 grams of pure silver and has a face value of 10 yuan. Its reverse side will feature the orbiter for the Tianwen-1 mission, along with depictions of Mars and Earth.

The reverse side of all the coins will also be inscribed with a line that reads “the success of China’s first Mars exploration mission Tianwen-1” in Chinese.

A total of 1,000 large-size gold coins, 30,000 smaller gold coins, and 60,000 silver coins will be made available for purchase, the bank said.