It seems like every country is upping its game and setting a benchmark in terms of space inventories. The latest news is that China has successfully launched its first-ever interplanetary mission to Mars. With this exceptional launch starts a seven-month-long journey through deep space. China would become the second country ever to land and operate on the Red Planet – The Martian Surface.

China’s mission is comprised of a Martian orbiter called Lander, Tianwen-1, and rover. This trio launched on top of the Long March 5 – China’s most powerful rockets, from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on July 23^rd. For this vehicle, this launch was the fourth venture ever.

The plan after reaching the Red Planet is simple: study the geology of Mars and investigate the composites lurking underneath the surface of the Planet. The tasks are divided between this trio perfectly – the lander and rover are supposed to take a plunge down to the surface of Mars while Orbiter is supposed to map out images from above.

So far, the United States is the only country to successfully set robotic foot on Mars and explore the surface. In comparison, no other country has ever been able to land anything on the Red Planet. Europe has attempted and failed twice. The Soviet Union’s spacecraft did manage to land on Mars back in 1971 but the communication interrupted in a matter of 20 seconds.  Hence, if China manages to pull this off, it will find itself turn into an elite member of the space community – because so far only NASA has been able to accomplish this feat successfully.

As mentioned above, many countries are trying to set it’s foot successfully in space. United Arab Emirates, too, launched its first-ever interplanetary mission a couple of days ago. It sent an orbiter called Hope to Mars and the mission is to investigate further on the planet’s weather. The next flight to Mars is slated for 30^th July of NASA. It has designed a rover called Perseverance which will head towards the Red Planet and find out whether or not there is any sign of life.