China launched Tianwen-1, a Mars mission that entered orbit, landed a rover, and operated on the planet in 2021.
The China National Space Administration launched Tianwen-1 from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on 23 July 2020. The mission included an orbiter, a lander, and the Zhurong rover. It reached Mars in February 2021, and the lander delivered Zhurong to the surface in May 2021.
Zhurong was named after a traditional Chinese god of fire. The rover studied the local soil and surface environment in Utopia Planitia, a broad plain in Mars’s northern hemisphere. The orbiter continued to provide imaging and scientific measurements from above.
Tianwen-1 was notable because one mission accomplished Mars orbiting, landing, and rover operations. The United Arab Emirates and the United States also launched Mars missions in 2020, but their spacecraft had different mission designs and did not make the same combined first attempt.