Chinese Tianwen-1 entered parking orbit around Mars

The China National Space Administration said the Tianwen-1 spacecraft performed a maneuver to

adjusting its orbit in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Beijing time.It will remain in its new orbit for approximately the next three months before attempting to land.During that time, it will map the surface of Mars and use cameras and other sensors to collect additional data, especially about the proposed landing site.

The message came after the U.S. rover Perseverance landed last Thursday near the delta of an ancient river in Jezero Crater to look for signs of traces of microscopic life.

A successful bid for the Tianwen-1 landing would make China the second country after the U.S. to place a spacecraft on Mars.China's solar-powered vehicle will collect data on groundwater and also look for evidence that microscopic life once existed on the planet.

The Tianwen spaceship is named after an ancient poem, the name translates as "Search for Heavenly Truth."

Spaceship landing on Mars likeknown to be a difficult task. About a dozen orbiters missed their target. In 2011, the Chinese orbiter on Mars, which was part of the Russian mission, never left the near-earth orbit.

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