Watch: NASA’s asteroid camera captures China’s Mars mission on its way to the Red Planet

Image of China’s Tianwen-1 Mars spacecraft spotted by NASA’s Hawaii-based asteroid survey ATLAS. (Image Courtesy: NASA)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has many observatories that always keep a tab on asteroids that can be potentially hazardous to the Earth. One such NASA-affiliated observatory spotted the recently-launched Chinese Mars mission and shared its bright images on Twitter.

The object that was spotted by the observatory was China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission, that had been launched on July 23. Sharing the image, NASA’s Asteroid Watch tweeted: “During routine survey operations for hazardous #asteroids for @NASA’s #PlanetaryDefense Coordination Office, the @fallingstarIfA ATLAS-MLO telescope spotted China’s Tianwen-1 on its way to #Mars. Bon Voyage Tianwen-1!”

During routine survey operations for hazardous #asteroids for @NASA’s #PlanetaryDefense Coordination Office, the @fallingstarIfA ATLAS-MLO telescope spotted China’s Tianwen-1 on its way to #Mars. Bon Voyage Tianwen-1! pic.twitter.com/Kc5SQjljgc

— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) July 24, 2020

The image and animation of the Chinese spacecraft speeding away from Earth were captured by a program run by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office from a facility on Hawaii Island’s Mauna Loa, Space.com reported. The report added that the Planetary Defense Coordination Office of NASA keeps a vigilant eye on the sky, spots space rocks thereby helping astronomers map the path of the objects.

The Tianwen-1 spacecraft is on a seven-month journey to the Red Planet. It features an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It weighs 5 tonnes and was launched on a Long March 5 rocket from China’s Xichang. The orbiter, weighing around 240 kg, will use high-resolution cameras to look for suitable landing spots in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars.

IE reported that Tianwen-1 means “Questions to Heaven”, and the main mission of the spacecraft is to study the sub-layer distribution and the thickness of the Martian soil. The report also stated that the Tianwen-1 mission has many scientific goals, which include determining the composition of Mars’ surface material by studying geology, topography, climate and environment on the Red Planet.

The Tianwen-1 will reach Mars’ orbit in February 2021 and the rover will land on the Red Planet in May, the IE report added.