China's 1st Mars Rover Takes 'Selfies' in Space

BEIJING (Sputnik) - The China National Space Administration on Thursday published pictures of its first Mars rover, Tianwen-1, which have been made by the spacecraft itself en route to the Red Planet.

According to the agency, the first selfies were made during the flight in deep space. The photos show the rover with the national flag of China on its outer hull.

Tianwen-1 was successfully launched from the Wenchang site on the southern island province of Hainan on 23 July. As of 1 October, the rover has travelled 1.88 million kilometres (1.2 million miles), and all systems are operating normally.

Here's an image of Tianwen-1 in deep space and on its way to Mars, released today [CLEP]. The spacecraft is currently 24.1 million km from the Earth with a total flight distance of 188 million km. Source: https://t.co/bs27vcPbCT pic.twitter.com/K65ZG8GrEn

— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) October 1, 2020

The Chinese released 2 photos of the Chinese Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter with @PRCMarsRover on board as it cruises mid-way towards Mars.

Mars orbit insertion is planned for February 2021 with the rover landing planned for May 2021. pic.twitter.com/FsH6yvdq2k

— Cosmic Penguin (@Cosmic_Penguin) October 1, 2020

It will take an estimated seven months to reach the Mars surface. If the mission is successful, it will send the collected data to Earth in 2021.