China shows first high-def pictures of Mars taken by Tianwen 1

Color picture of Mars' north pole taken by Tianwen 1. (Photo provided by CNSA)

The China National Space Administration made public on Thursday morning the first high-definition pictures of Mars taken by the nation's spacecraft.

The pictures – two black-and-white and one color – were shot recently by China's Tianwen 1 robotic probe when the spacecraft was travelling in Mars orbit, according to the administration.

The two black-and-white 7-meter-resolution images were taken by the high-definition camera on Tianwen 1's orbiter when the probe was about 330 to 350 kilometers above the Martian surface. Craters, mountain ridges and sand dunes on the red planet are clear on the pictures.

The color picture was generated by another camera on the orbiter, showing Mars' north pole.