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Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| 中国行星探测 Zhōngguó Xíngxīng Tàncè | |
 Emblem of Planetary Exploration of China Reaching for the Planets | |
| Program overview | |
|---|---|
| Country |  China |
| Organization | China National Space Administration (CNSA) |
| Purpose | Robotic Interplanetary mission |
| Status | Ongoing |
| Program history | |
| Duration | 2016–present |
| First flight | Tianwen-1, July 23, 2020, 04:41 UTC |
| Last flight | Tianwen-2, May 28, 2025, 17:31 UTC |
| Successes | 2 |
| Failures | 0 |
| Launch site(s) | Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site Xichang Satellite Launch Center |
| Vehicle information | |
| Launch vehicle | Long March rockets |
The Planetary Exploration of China (PEC; Chinese: 中国行星探测; pinyin: Zhōngguó Xíngxīng Tàncè), is the robotic interplanetary spaceflight program conducted by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) since 2020. The program aims to explore the Solar System, starting from Mars, and will be expanded to Jupiter and more in the future.[1] Initially known as the Mars mission of China[2] and announced under its current name in April 2020, each mission is named Tianwen (Chinese: 天问; pinyin: Tīanwèn; lit. 'Questions to Heaven').[3] It is one of CNSA's two Solar System exploration programs, alongside the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.
Tianwen-1, a Mars mission, launched in July 2020, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and the Zhurong rover, entering Mars orbit in February 2021, and successfully landing in May,[4] making China the second country to successfully soft-land and operate a spacecraft on Mars,[a] after the United States. The orbiter remains active as of 2026, while Zhurong has been offline since May 2022. Tianwen-2 was launched in May 2025, to rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa in June 2026, return a sample to Earth in 2027, and orbit the comet 311P/PanSTARRS in 2035.
Tianwen-3 is scheduled to achieve the world's first Mars sample-return, launching in 2028 and returning in 2031, using a similar architecture to lunar sample return missions Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6. Tianwen-4 is planned as a Jupiter mission, orbiting Callisto and possibly including a Uranus flyby probe. It is planned to launch in 2029, using a Venus flyby and two Earth flybys, and arriving in 2035.
The Mars and Jupiter missions of the program use the Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket via Wenchang Space Launch Site, while Tianwen-2 used a Long March 3B via Xichang Satellite Launch Center.[5] Prior to 2020, CNSA had attempted interplanetary exploration with the 2011 Yinghuo-1 orbiter carried by Russia's failed Fobos-Grunt probe, and the 2012 successful flyby by lunar probe Chang'e 2 of asteroid 4179 Toutatis. Mission communications use the Chinese Deep Space Network, and have previously cooperated with the European Space Agency, using its ESTRACK network and Mars Express orbiter.[6][7]
China began its first interplanetary exploration attempt in 2011 by sending Yinghuo-1, a Mars orbiter, in a joint mission with Russia. Yet it failed to leave Earth orbit due to the failure of Russian launch vehicle.[8]
On December 13, 2012, the Chinese lunar probe Chang'e 2 made a flyby of the asteroid 4179 Toutatis in an extended mission.[9] With a distance of over 7 million kilometers away from Earth, Chang'e 2 became China's first interplanetary probe which tested the limit of China's deep space communication capability.[10]
On April 22, 2016, Xu Dazhe, head of the CNSA, announced that the Mars mission had been approved on January 11, 2016. A probe would be sent to Martian orbit and attempt to land on Mars in 2020.[2]
On November 14, 2019, CNSA invited some foreign embassies and international organizations to witness hovering and obstacle avoidance test for Mars Lander of China's first Mars exploration mission at the extraterrestrial celestial landing test site. It was the first public appearance of China's Mars exploration mission.[11]
On April 24, 2020, Planetary Exploration of China was formally announced by CNSA, along with the name "Tianwen" and emblem of the program.[12] The first mission of the program, the Mars mission to be carried out in 2020, was named Tianwen-1.[3]
The first mission of the program, Tianwen-1 Mars exploration mission, was launched on July 23, 2020.[13] The Tianwen-1 was inserted into Mars orbit in February 2021 after a seven-month journey, followed by a successful soft landing of the lander and Zhurong rover on May 14, 2021.[4] The Zhurong rover was deployed onto the Martian surface from its landing platform and began its exploratory mission on May 22. On June 1, CNSA released multiple high-resolution images taken on Martian surface, confirming the success of the mission.[14]
On June 12, 2021, CNSA announced the future plans for near-Earth asteroid sample return, Mars sample return and Jupiter system exploration.[15]
The program's name "Tianwen", which literally means "questions to heaven", derived from the eponymous poem by the famous ancient poet Qu Yuan of the state of Chu during the Warring States period (475–221 BC). The name is said to represent the Chinese people's relentless pursuit of truth, the country's cultural inheritance of its understanding of nature and universe, as well as the unending explorations in science and technology.[3]
The emblem of PEC and its missions consist of eight planets in the Solar System and their orbits in the shape of the Latin letter 'c', referring to China, cooperation, and the cosmic velocity required to undertake planetary exploration.[1]
Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site is China's newest space vehicle launch facility. It is the only launch site in China capable of launching China's most powerful rocket Long March 5, which offers the maximum payload capacity into deep space.
Tianwen-1, the first mission of PEC, was launched from Wenchang.
Tianwen-2, the second mission of PEC, was launched from Xichang aboard a Long March 3B rocket.
The Chinese Deep Space Network provides tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C) capability to the interplanetary spaceflights. Participating facilities include:[17][18]
Located in Huailai County, Hebei, the extraterrestrial celestial landing test site is the largest facility of this kind in Asia.[11]
The facility consists of six 140-meter tall cranes and one central platform, which is connected with the cranes by 36 cables. The movement of the platform provides simulation of the Mars gravity environment to the lander hung below it. The ground of is paved with special material, which can be manipulated to form pits or slopes.[19]
The extraterrestrial celestial landing test site is used to test the lander's capability of hovering, obstacle avoidance and slowing down.
As China's first independent Mars exploration mission, Tianwen-1 set out to accomplish three major goals simultaneously: orbiting, landing on, and roving Mars via a single set of spacecraft.[20] On July 23, 2020, the Tianwen-1 spacecraft stack, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, a rover, deployable and remote cameras launched from Wenchang, marking the beginning of the mission.[13]
After a 202-day journey through interplanetary space, Tianwen-1 inserted itself into Martian orbit on February 10, 2021, thereby becoming China's first Mars orbiter. During this long journey, it deployed a deployable camera in September 2020 whose imagery confirmed the successful launch and Mars transit phase of the spacecraft.[21] Subsequently, it performed several orbital maneuvers and began surveying target landing sites on Mars in preparation for the coming landing attempt.
On May 14, 2021, the lander and the Zhurong rover separated from Tianwen-1's orbiter. After experiencing Mars atmospheric entry that lasted about nine minutes, the lander and rover made a successful soft landing in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars.[4] With the landing, China became the second country to operate a fully functional spacecraft on Martian surface, after the United States.
On May 22, 2021, the Zhurong rover deployed onto the Martian surface from its landing platform and began its exploratory mission. During its deployment, the Rover's instrument, Mars Climatic Station (MCS), recorded the sound, acting as the second Martian sound instrument to record Martian sounds successfully after Mars 2020 Perseverance rover's microphones. During this journey it deployed the remote selfie camera on June 1, 2021, whose imagery confirmed the successful landing of the rover and lander.[14] Later on, the orbiter released another deployable camera in Mars Orbit on December 31, 2021 who imaged the orbiter and Utopia Planitia where Zhurong rover is operating and an unknown selfie stick payload was deployed to working position on orbiter to image orbiter's key components and Chinese flag on orbiter on January 30, 2022, for Chinese New Year.
The mission to return samples from a near-Earth asteroid and to orbit a main-belt comet is planned to be conducted around 2025, according to CNSA announcement on June 12, 2021.[22]
On May 28, 2025, the Tianwen-2 spacecraft, consisting of an orbiter, a return module, deployable and remote cameras launched from Xichang, marking the beginning of the first asteroid exploration mission of China.[23]
In December 2020, the CNSA announced plans for a Mars sample-return mission to be carried out later in the decade.[24] In a June 2022 announcement, the mission's name was revealed to be Tianwen-3 and further details were announced, including a 2028 launch date for a 2031 return to Earth.[25] One spacecraft would land on the martian surface to collect samples and send the material back to Martian orbit. A second spacecraft would take the samples which would then be carried by a return capsule back to earth.[26][27]
In 2022, the CNSA revealed VOICE (Venus Volcano Imaging and Climate Explorer), an orbiter mission to launch in 2026 and arrive at Venus in 2027. This mission is expected to last 3-4 years and include the following payloads, a Microwave Radiometric Sounder (MRS), Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PolSAR), and Ultraviolet-Visible-Near Infrared Multispectral Imager (UVN-MSI). VOICE would return images of the surface with one-meter resolution and search the clouds for habitability and biosignatures.[28][29]
According to the National Space Science Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan (2024-2050), the mission was not selected for development. It was replaced by a Venus atmosphere sample return mission, but no details or timelines were announced.[30] In 2024, China's Deep Space Exploration Lab displayed a development roadmap envisioning a spaceplane-type craft for a Venus atmosphere sample return launching in 2033.[31]
China is planning a mission to Jupiter and possibly to the Jovian moon Callisto. One of two possible mission architectures ("Jupiter Callisto Orbiter" and "Jupiter System Observer") will likely be launched in 2029 and arrive at the Jovian system in 2035, after one Venus flyby and two Earth flybys.[32] The mission will also include an additional probe that will conduct a flyby of Uranus sometime after 2040.[33][34]
| Mission | Launch date (UTC) |
Launch site | Launch vehicle | Spacecraft | Orbital insertion date (UTC) |
Landing date (UTC) |
Landing location | Operational time | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tianwen-1 | July 23, 2020 04:41:15 |
Wenchang | Long March 5 | Tianwen-1 orbiter | February 10, 2021 11:52 |
– | – | 2072 days | Operational | |
| Tianwen-1 lander | May 14, 2021 23:18 |
Utopia Planitia 25°06′N 109°54′E / 25.1°N 109.9°E |
3 hours | Success | No payload except a black box was on the lander. Reached end of designed lifespan after landing. | |||||
| Zhurong rover | 358 days[35] | Success | Deployed onto the Martian surface on May 22, 2021. Stopped communicating on 20 May 2022 after entering winter hibernation. | |||||||
| Tianwen-2 | May 28, 2025 17:31 |
Xichang | Long March 3B | Tianwen-2 orbiter (469219 Kamoʻoalewa phase) |
June 7, 2026 (planned) |
July 3, 2026 (planned in-situ sample acquisition) | TBD | 504 days | Operational | |
| Tianwen-2 sample-return capsule |
– | November 29, 2027 (planned) |
Inner Mongolia, Earth |
504 days | Operational | mission plan envisions the capsule to return a sample of up to 100 g (3.5 oz) of regolith. | ||||
| Tianwen-2 orbiter (311P/PanSTARRS phase) |
January 24, 2035 (planned) | – | – | 504 days | Operational | mission plan envisions the orbital exploration of 311P/PanSTARRS with the duration of about four-months. | ||||
| Tianwen-3 | December 2028–January 2029 | Wenchang | Long March 5 | Tianwen-3 orbiter/Earth returner | Q3 2029 | – | TBD, Earth | – | Planned | |
| Long March 5 | Tianwen-3 lander/ascent vehicle | Q3 2029 | Q3 2029 | TBD, Mars | – | Planned |
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The Planetary Exploration of China (PEC; Chinese: 中国行星探测; pinyin: Zhōngguó Xíngxīng Tàncè), is the robotic interplanetary spaceflight program conducted by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) since 2020. The program aims to explore the Solar System, starting from Mars, and will be expanded to Jupiter and more in the future. Initially known as the Mars mission of China and announced under its current name in April 2020, each mission is named Tianwen (Chinese: 天问; pinyin: Tīanwèn; lit. 'Questions to Heaven'). It is one of CNSA's two Solar System exploration programs, alongside the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. Tianwen-1, a Mars mission, launched in July 2020, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and the Zhurong rover, entering Mars orbit in February 2021, and successfully landing in May, making China the second country to successfully soft-land and operate a spacecraft on Mars, after the United States. The orbiter remains active as of 2026, while Zhurong has been offline since May 2022. Tianwen-2 was launched in May 2025, to rendezvous with near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa in June 2026, return a sample to Earth in 2027, and orbit the comet 311P/PanSTARRS in 2035. Tianwen-3 is scheduled to achieve the world's first Mars sample-return, launching in 2028 and returning in 2031, using a similar architecture to lunar sample return missions Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6. Tianwen-4 is planned as a Jupiter mission, orbiting Callisto and possibly including a Uranus flyby probe. It is planned to launch in 2029, using a Venus flyby and two Earth flybys, and arriving in 2035. The Mars and Jupiter missions of the program use the Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket via Wenchang Space Launch Site, while Tianwen-2 used a Long March 3B via Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Prior to 2020, CNSA had attempted interplanetary exploration with the 2011 Yinghuo-1 orbiter carried by Russia's failed Fobos-Grunt probe, and the 2012 successful flyby by lunar probe Chang'e 2 of asteroid 4179 Toutatis. Mission communications use the Chinese Deep Space Network, and have previously cooperated with the European Space Agency, using its ESTRACK network and Mars Express orbiter.
This article is about the Chinese poem, for the Chinese space missions of the same name, see Planetary Exploration of China The Heavenly Questions or Questions to Heaven (traditional Chinese: 天問; simplified Chinese: 天问; pinyin: Tiānwèn) is a piece contained in the Classical Chinese poetry collection of Chu Ci, which is noted both in terms of poetry and as a source for information on the ancient culture of China, especially the area of the ancient state of Chu. Of all the poems attributed to Qu Yuan, "Tianwen" contains more myths than any of the other pieces which may be attributed to him; however, due to the formal structure of "Tianwen" as a series of questions, information regarding the myths alluded to appear more as a series of allusive fragments than as cohesively narrated stories. According to legend, Qu Yuan wrote this series of questions in verse after viewing various scenes depicted on temple murals; specifically, it is said that following his exile from the royal court of Chu, Qu Yuan looked upon the depictions of the ancestors and the gods painted upon the walls of the ancestral temple of Chu; and, then, in response, wrote his questions to Heaven, upon these same walls.
Tianwen-2 (Chinese: 天问二号) is a Chinese asteroid sample return and comet exploration mission that launched on 28 May 2025. It is the second mission of the Planetary Exploration of China program of the China National Space Agency (CNSA), and the only planned mission to focus on small Solar System bodies. The probe departed Xichang Satellite Launch Center on a Long March 3B rocket. On July 4, 2026 the spacecraft arrived at 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, a near-Earth asteroid that is currently a quasi-satellite of Earth. CNSA plans for Tianwen-2 to return samples from the asteroid during an Earth flyby in 2027 by ejecting a capsule into atmospheric entry. After the flyby, the probe is planned to rendezvous with the main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS in January 2035, and explore it with its 11 onboard instruments.
Tianwen-3 (Chinese: 天问三号) is a planned robotic Mars sample-return mission of the China National Space Administration scheduled to launch in 2028, returning to Earth by 2031. The mission is focused on identifying biosignatures indicating life on Mars. The mission profile uses two spacecraft, an orbiter/Earth-returner and a lander/ascent-vehicle, similar to China's lunar sample return missions Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6. Unlike those missions, the vehicles will use two separate launches to Mars, each aboard a Long March 5 rocket from Wenchang Space Launch Site. It is planned to use the December 2028–January 2029 Mars launch window. If successful, it would be the world's first Mars sample return; the status of the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return remains unclear. The mission will include planetary protection measures to prevent forward contamination. Early plans also called for a helicopter and crawling robot, which remain unconfirmed. Tianwen-3 will be the third Mars mission of the Chinese space program, after the failed Yinghuo-1 orbiter (2011) and the successful Tianwen-1 orbiter, lander, and rover (2020–present). It is the third mission of the Planetary Exploration of China program, after Tianwen-2, an asteroid and comet mission.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.
