The probe, which reached Mars orbit in February, is made up of three elements, including a lander that will touch down in the coming hours.

China is preparing this Friday to attempt to land a small remote-controlled rover on Mars, in a particularly complex operation that reflects the space ambitions of the Asian giant.

China launched its “Tianwen-1” probe toward Mars last July; it took seven months to cover the 55 million kilometers to the red planet, equivalent to 1,400 times around the Earth.

The probe, which reached Mars orbit in February, is made up of three elements, including a lander that will touch down in the coming hours. The module will allow a remote-controlled rover, “Zhurong” (god of fire in Chinese mythology), to roll out and analyze the planet’s surface.

No precise date or time has been officially announced, although the China National Space Administration (CNSA) initially spoke of a possible arrival between mid-May and mid-June.

On Friday it specified that the operation was expected to take place between “the morning of May 15 and May 19.”

But expectations ran high on Friday after a leading specialist announced that the remote-controlled rover would land on Mars on the morning of Saturday the 15th.

Ye Peijian, head of the lunar exploration program, expects the module to touch down at 7:11 a.m. Saturday, Beijing time (23:11 GMT on Friday), according to Chinese media.

If the process is carried out successfully, the rover will make it possible to study the composition of the red planet’s rocks.

Source: Milenio