The China National Space Administration released videos and images from the Mars probe Tianwen-1 on June 11, 2021, signifying the success of the country’s first Mars exploration mission. 

The images were taken by the Zhurong rover and include the panorama of the touchdown site in Utopia Planitia, the Martian topography, a side view of the Tianwen-1 lander at its touchdown site, and a “family photo” featuring the rover together with its rocket-powered landing platform posing for a camera on the rock-covered surface. 

China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1 successfully landed on the surface of the red planet on May 15, 2021, leaving a Chinese footprint on Mars for the first time. 

The Tianwen-1 lander touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain on the northern hemisphere of Mars, becoming the country’s first probe to land on a planet other than Earth. 

Tianwen-1, consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020. It is the first step in China’s planetary exploration of the solar system, with the aim of accomplishing orbiting, landing and roving on the red planet in one mission.