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aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

CNet News [cnet.com] reports this, about Tianwen-1.

It's a busy month on Mars. Three spacecraft missions are closing in on the red planet. China's Tianwen-1 is one of them, and it already has an eye on its new home in the solar system. The Chinese National Space Agency released Tianwen-1's first view of Mars on Friday.

CNSA described the image as "the first snapshot from the Chinese craft" in a statement, and said it was captured from about 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) away. The stark black and white photo shows Mars against the dark backdrop of space.

Mars, the Red Planet. In B&W.

CNSA previously released a spacecraft "selfie" in September 2020 showing Tianwen-1 on its long flight.

The Chinese spacecraft has been making some corrections to its trajectory to bring it neatly into orbit on Feb. 10. The mission is made up of an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It will spend some time traveling around Mars before attempting the harrowing landing part of the mission.

As SpaceX says, you have to work on the landing.

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