China releases new Mars images on New Year's Day

Image provided by the China National Space Administration shows the orbiter of the Tianwen-1 mission and Mars.

BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- China released on the first day of 2022 a group of new Mars images sent by the Tianwen-1 probe.

These new images showed diverse working conditions of the probe's orbiter and rover, as well as the Mars surface topography obtained by them, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The images include the group photo of the orbiter and Mars, closeup of the orbiter, ice sheet on Mars' north pole area, surface landscape taken by the rover Zhurong.

China's Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020.

The lander, carrying the rover with an expected life span of at least 90 Martian days or about three months on Earth, touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars, on May 15.

Zhurong drove down from its landing platform to the Martian surface on May 22, starting its exploration of the red planet.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, the Tianwen-1 orbiter had been working in orbit for 526 days, at a distance of about 350 million km above Earth. Zhurong had been working on the surface of the Red Planet for 225 Martian days and traveled 1,400 meters, according to the CNSA.

The Tianwen-1 mission is carrying out the planned exploration and test tasks, obtaining about 560 gigabytes (GB) of data. Both the orbiter and rover are in good condition and operating normally, the CNSA said.