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

Black-and-white picture of Mars taken by Tianwen 1. (Photo provided by CNSA)

The Tianwen 1 mission's ultimate goal is to land a rover in May or June on the southern part of Mars' Utopia Planitia – a large plain within Utopia, the largest recognized impact basin in the solar system – to conduct scientific surveys.

Weighing about 240 kilograms, the rover, which has yet to be named, has six wheels and four solar panels and is able to move 200 meters per hour on Mars. It carries six scientific instruments including multispectral camera, ground-penetrating radar and meteorological measurer, and is expected to work about three months on the planet.

If the highly autonomous machine functions well, it will become mankind's sixth rover ever deployed on Mars, following its five predecessors from the United States. The most recent operation by a rover was started by the US' Perseverance at the Jezero Crater since Feb 19 (Beijing time).

Tianwen 1 is the world's 46th Mars exploration mission since October 1960, when the former Soviet Union launched the first Mars-bound spacecraft. Only 19 of those missions were successful.

Reporting by Zhao Lei (China Daily)