Space Science Reviews - The Huoxing-1 (HX-1) / Tianwen-1 (TW-1) mission to Mars

New Topical Collection published in Space Science Reviews

13 April 2022

China announced its planetary exploration programme beyond the Earth–Moon system in 2016. Benefiting from the engineering heritage of China’s lunar exploration programme, the Chinese national strategy set Mars as the next target for planetary exploration. China’s first Mars exploration mission (HuoXing-1) – re-named Tianwen-1 (TW-1) "Heaven Inquiry" – includes the tasks of orbiting, landing and roving in one operation. TW-1 was launched on 23 July 2020, and the Tianwen-1 lander touched down on 14 May 2021, successfully releasing the Zhurong rover.

The articles in this Topical Collection (this opens in a new tab) review the scientific objectives of earlier and current Mars exploration missions, and introduce the scientific objectives, payloads and preliminary scientific exploration plan of China’s first Mars exploration mission, including an analysis of expected scientific outcomes. The instruments of the orbiter and rover are discussed in individual presentations. 
 

Start reading this open-access overview article: 
Li, C., Zhang, R., Yu, D. et al. China’s Mars Exploration Mission and Science Investigation (this opens in a new tab). Space Sci Rev 217, 57 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-021-00832-9