On April 24, 2020, China's fifth Space Day, the country named its first Mars exploration mission (探测任务）Tianwen 1. The name comes from a poem of the same name by Qu Yuan, one of the greatest poets of ancient China.
Hundreds of years ago, Chinese poet Qu Yuan wrote the poem Tianwen. In his poem, Qu Yuan asked questions about the sky, stars, nature and the world around us. He questioned traditional ideas and looked for the truth of the universe.
Besides the Mars mission, other Chinese space missions also take their names from ancient culture (文化).
Chang'e: China gives all of its lunar missions the name Chang'e.
Yutu: Yutu, or "Jade Rabbit", is the name of China's lunar rovers (月球车).
Queqiao: The relay satellite (中继卫星) for the Chang'e-4 lunar probe (探测器) is named Queqiao.
China plans to launch (发射) its first Mars probe this year. The Long March-5 rocket will send the probe into space. It will take about seven months to reach the planet. It will land on and explore Mars on the ground in one mission.
