"Tianwen" is launched! my country's planetary exploration mission is officially named "Tianwen"

On the occasion of the fifth China Space Day, the National Space Administration announced that my country's planetary exploration mission will be officially named "Tianwen", and my country's first Mars exploration mission will be named "Tianwen-1". At the same time, the logo of the first Mars exploration mission "Lanxing Jiutian" was announced.

In this regard, Ge Xiaochun, chief engineer of the National Space Administration, explained that "Heavenly Questions" comes from a long poem by the great Chinese poet Qu Yuan, which is a question Qu Yuan asked about all phenomena such as heaven, earth, nature and the human world, expressing the Chinese nation's tenacity and persistence in pursuing truth. It embodies the cultural heritage of exploring nature and the universe, implying that the journey to explore scientific truth is long and the pursuit of scientific and technological innovation is endless.

According to CCTV, the Chinese planetary exploration project, as an overall concept, uses "Lan Xing Jiu Tian" as the project's graphic logo. The "Lan Xing Jiu Tian" pattern shows the eight planets in the solar system arranged in sequence, expressing the colorful universe and the richness of scientific discoveries. The open elliptical orbit is tilted upward as a whole, showing the image of the letter "C".

Ge Xiaochun introduced that the unique letter "C" brings together multiple meanings such as China's planetary exploration (China), the spirit of international cooperation (Cooperation), and the ability to enter deep space exploration (C3), showing the concept and attitude of openness and cooperation in China's space industry. It is reported that the National Space Administration is about to launch a global solicitation activity for the name of my country's Mars rover.

Data shows that since August 23, 2016, China's Mars Exploration Project name and graphic logo have been collected from all over the world. People from all walks of life at home and abroad have participated enthusiastically, and a total of 35,912 project names and graphic logo works have been submitted. After online voting, a total of 3,278,962 valid votes were received from all over the world.

At present, my country is carrying out the development of the first Mars exploration project. According to the plan, my country will launch a Mars probe through the Long March 5 in 2020, and realize Mars orbit, landing and patrol exploration through a single launch. Among the eight planets in the solar system, Mars is relatively close to the Earth. Mars has a similar rotation period to the Earth, which is 24 hours and 37 minutes. In addition, there are four seasons on Mars: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Because of these similarities, by launching a probe to understand the situation on Mars and obtain more information, it can help humans better study the evolution and future development of the Earth. After the probe is launched, it will take about 7 months of flight to reach Mars.