Watch the Launch

Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Tianwen-1 Mars Launch Live Stream

China is targeting 04:00 on 7/23/2020 UTC for liftoff of their Tianwen-1 Mars mission aboard their Long March 5 rocket. If successful, this will be China’s first Mars mission. Live coverage for this m...

Tianwen-1 Mars Launch Live Stream

China is targeting 04:00 on 7/23/2020 UTC for liftoff of their Tianwen-1 Mars mission aboard their Long March 5 rocket. If successful, this will be China’s first Mars mission. Live coverage for this m...

Live: China's inaugurates first Mars exploration mission Tianwen-1 in southern Hainan Province

2020 can be regarded as the year of Mars. Following Sunday's launch of the UAE's Mars probe, China inaugurates its first Mars exploration mission Tianwen-1 in Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern ...

Tianwen-1 (Mars Global Remote Sensing Orbiter and Small Rover)

Overview

Destination: Heliocentric N/A
Mission: Robotic Exploration

Heliocentric N/A 101 Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Tianwen-1 ("questions to heaven") Mars mission includes a Martian orbiter and a lander/rover duo. This will be China's first mission to Mars. The spacecraft will reach Mars in February 2021. Lander will remain attached to the orbiter for two to three months before attempting its landing. The chosen landing area is Utopia Planitia, a huge basin formed by a large impact far back in Mars' history. The rover is expected to be in operation for about 90 Martian sols. The Tianwen-1 orbiter will provide a relay communication link to the rover while performing its own scientific observations for one Martian year. The orbiter will operate in a polar orbit in order to map Mars' morphology and geological structure while also using the Mars-Orbiting Subsurface Exploration Radar instrument to investigate soil characteristics and water-ice distribution. It will also measure the ionosphere and the electromagnetic and gravitational fields, the new paper reported. The rover will have 13 instruments detecting things such as topography, soil, environment, atmosphere, water ice, physical field and internal structure. It will investigate the surface soil characteristics and water-ice distribution with its own Subsurface Exploration Radar. It will also analyze surface material composition and characteristics of the Martian climate and environment on the surface.

Long March 5

Family:
Configuration:

Long March 5 is a Chinese heavy lift launch system developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). CZ-5 is the first Chinese vehicle designed from the ground up to focus on non-hypergolic liquid rocket propellants. Currently, two CZ-5 vehicle configurations are planned, with maximum payload capacities of ~25,000 kilograms (55,000 lb) to LEO and ~14,000 kilograms (31,000 lb) to GTO. The Long March 5 roughly matches the capabilities of American EELV heavy-class vehicles such as the Delta IV Heavy.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    57.0 m
  • Diameter
    5.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    867.0 T
  • Thrust
    10600.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Long March 5
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Long March 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    25000.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    14000.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

(CASC)

Chairman & President: Lei Fanpei Founded: 1999 Successes: 599 Failures: 16 Pending: 9

Agency Type:

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.

INFO WIKI
The Launch Pad

China's Mars Rover's Status Unknown on 2nd Anniversary as NASA Orbiter Detects Months of Inactivity

China's Tianwen-1 mission celebrates two years in Martian orbit, as China remains silent on status of their Zhurong rover as NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals the rover has not moved for months.

SpaceNews

NASA Mars orbiter reveals China’s Zhurong rover has not moved for months

Images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that China’s Zhurong rover remains stationary on the Red Planet as China remains silent on the status of its spacecraft.

SpaceNews

China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter and rover appear to be in trouble

The two spacecraft making up China’s first interplanetary mission are both suffering issues, with the rover potentially lost on the surface after winter hibernation.

A new video of Tianwen-1 flying above Mars is pretty epic

SpaceNews

China’s Zhurong rover returns landing footage and sounds from Mars

China has released landing process footage from its Zhurong rover as well as video and sounds of the vehicle roving on Mars.

Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

101


Long March 2D
Success
10 hours, 14 minutes ago
PIESAT-2 13-16
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.


Electron
Success
17 hours, 42 minutes ago
Owl By The Dozen (StriX Launch 12)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
2 days, 4 hours ago
Glonass-K1 No. 20 (?)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Satellite serial number and Cosmos designation not confirmed. Glonass-K are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite n…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 18 hours ago
SpaceTY-51 & 52
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Earth observation radar satellites built by the Chinese satellite manufacturer SpaceTY.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 19 hours ago
USSF-259
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

USSF-259 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield …


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 20 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 25
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
3 days, 7 hours ago
Progress MS-35 (96P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Gravity-1
Success
3 days, 23 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #16
Yellow Sea (launch location 5) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with …


Zhuque-2E Block 2
Success
4 days, 14 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #15
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…


Vega-C
Success
4 days, 19 hours ago
Sentinel-3C & FLEX
Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and lan…