Photo taken on March 18, 2021 shows an image of Mars captured by China’s Tianwen-1 probe. [IMAGE: CNSA/HANDOUT VIA XINHUA]

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on March 26 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 with an onboard medium-resolution camera.

The Tianwen-1 probe has been operating in a 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.

Photo taken on March 16, 2021 shows an image of Mars captured by China’s Tianwen-1 probe. [IMAGE: CNSA/HANDOUT VIA XINHUA]

Source: Xinhua