China's Tianwen 1 Mars orbiter has imaged the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS during its close pass by the Red Planet, aiding global efforts to study the rare interstellar interloper.
2I/Borisov in 2019. This time, space agencies around the world have been looking at any and all ways to study the invading comet, including repurposing spacecraft spread across the solar system.
The Tianwen 1 spacecraft imaged the comet between Oct. 1 and Oct. 4, publishing images showing its path during this time, as well as a standalone photo from Oct. 3.
statement. "The images clearly show the comet's distinctive features, consisting of a nucleus and a surrounding coma, with a diameter reaching several thousand kilometers."
CNSA says the comet imaging project was an important extension mission for Tianwen 1, stating that the ability to observe faint celestial bodies provided a chance to perform useful technical tests and accumulate experience for the second mission in China's deep-space exploration series, Zhurong rover successfully landed in Mars' Utopia Planitia region in May 2021 and operated on the surface for around one Earth year.