In a new selfie video published ahead of the Chinese New Year, China's first Mars orbiter, Tianwen-1, shows off its tour around the Red Planet.
The Chinese National Space Administration published a short video on Monday that shows a substantial section of the spacecraft's body, engines, and solar array speeding through space, with bits of Mars' surface visible in the backdrop.
The footage embedded below shows a spacecraft orbiting another planet for the first time, and it's rather impressive.
According to ArsTechnica, the announcement on the eve of the Chinese New Year highlights how its leadership uses civil spaceflight to build national pride and endeavor to establish China as a global competitor to the US.
The unfolding... pic.twitter.com/a6vuVqmJ1g
— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) January 31, 2022
China Shares New Video of Tianwen-1 Flying Above Mars In Time For Chinese New Year
The Chinese National Space Administration posted a video of the orbiter traveling over the black sky and changing its solar panel on the Chinese social network Weixin (WeChat).
As the surface of Mars comes into view, you realize you're only a few hundred kilometers above it, the North Pole and glaciers of the Red Planet vividly apparent against the redness of the surrounding dirt.
China's Mars probe Tianwen-1 extended festival greetings to the Chinese people with stunning video footage captured by a camera on its orbiter to snap selfies above the red planet on Monday, the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year https://t.co/6lCYTk7zEf pic.twitter.com/GfSe3tBZEJ
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 31, 2022
The selfie stick, according to IFLScience, stretches to 1.6 meters (5.25 feet) and is intended to monitor the orbiter's equipment as well as, more significantly, to take great selfies.
When it comes to spaceflight operations, China is notoriously secretive, disclosing minimal information regarding launches and spacecraft. However, the nation has revealed some compelling images of the Tianwen-1 expedition.
China shared several images of Tianwen-1 even before the Chinese New Year, The Verge said. The orbiter deployed a tiny spacecraft with a camera on board in early January, taking photographs of Tianwen-1 with a massive Mars in the backdrop.
During its journey to Mars, Tianwen-1 also took a photograph of itself by launching another spacecraft with a camera that recorded the vehicle enclosed in its protective shell. A camera connected to Tianwen-1 captured this latest footage.
About Tianwen-1 Orbiter
As of Monday, the Tianwen-1 orbiter has been in orbit for 557 days, at a distance of roughly 325 million kilometers from Earth.
Chinese state media Xinhua said the Zhurong Mars rover has been working for 255 Martian days and has traveled 1,524 meters across the planet's surface.
According to the space agency, the Mars mission has returned 600 GB of raw scientific data since its launch on July 23, 2020. The Tianwen-1 will shortly be celebrating its one year in orbit, having arrived at Mars on February 10 of last year.
The spacecraft is China's first mission to successfully enter Mars' orbit, making the country one of just a few countries to study the planet robotically. Tianwen-1 arrived on Mars in May of last year with a lander and a rover, both of which safely landed on the planet's surface.
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