China releases new images of Mars from Tianwen-1 probe

Photo taken on March 18, 2021 shows an image of Mars captured by China's Tianwen-1 probe. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday released two new images of Mars captured by the country's Tianwen-1 probe. In the images, Mars is crescent-shaped with a clear surface texture. When the Tianwen-1 probe was 11,000 km away from Mars on the far side of the planet to the sun, it took panoramic photos of Mars with a medium-resolution camera onboard. (CNSA/Handout via Xinhua)

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday released two new images of Mars captured by the country's Tianwen-1 probe.

In the images, Mars is crescent-shaped with a clear surface texture.

When the Tianwen-1 probe was 11,000 km away from Mars on the far side of the planet to the sun, it took panoramic photos of Mars with a medium-resolution camera onboard.

The Tianwen-1 probe has been operating in the parking orbit around Mars for a month. The high-resolution camera, medium-resolution camera, mineral spectrometer and other payloads onboard were switched on successively to carry out exploration of Mars and obtain scientific data, according to the CNSA.