A Long March-5 rocket carrying the Tianwen-1 Mars probe lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province.
The Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) is involved in the Chinese mission to explore Mars, the higher education institution said in a statement to the Times.
MUST scientists are involved in projects that cover exploration, astrobiology and surface radiation on Mars. They continue to study the planet’s atmosphere, internal structure, magnetic field, and space environment.
According to the local university, “research into the Martian atmosphere and dust is of great importance to ensure the safe landing of China’s rover on the surface.”
China launched its most ambitious Mars mission yet last week in a bold attempt to join the United States in successfully landing a spacecraft on the red planet. Engines blazing orange, a Long March-5 rocket took off under clear skies from Hainan Island, south of China’s mainland.
China’s space agency said that last week’s rocket launch carried a probe for 36 minutes before successfully placing it on the looping path that will take it beyond Earth’s orbit and eventually into Mars’ more distant orbit around the sun.
“The launch marks an auspicious start for China’s planetary exploration,” MUST said in a statement.
The State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences at MUST, directed by Professor Zhang Keke, has already completed 11 research projects related to the Mars mission.
The university said that its researchers are “responsible for the development, production, data processing and analysis of the separable telemetry probe for the Mars Survey Orbiter Engineering Survey subsystem.”
The projects were funded by Macau’s Science and Technology Development Fund, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
In 2016, Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of the mission and his delegation visited MUST to commence a collaboration project with the university’s Space Science Institute.
Two seminars were held in Zhuhai in 2017 and 2018 to allow for direct exchange between the national and Macau institutions “to ensure that the first exploration mission to Mars” produces preliminary results, of significant quantity and quality.”
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