First High-Def Pictures of Mars

祝丹

The China National Space Administration （CNSA） on Thursday published three high-resolution images of Mars captured by the countrys  Tianwen-1  probe.   These  images

include two panchromatic① images and one color image， said CNSA.

The panchromatic images were taken by the high-resolution camera of Tianwen-1 at a distance of 330 to 350 km above the surface of Mars， with a resolution of about 0.7 meters. In the images， Martian landforms such as small craters， mountain ridges and dunes are clearly visible.

It is estimated that the diameter of the largest impact crater in the images is around 620 meters.

The color image is of the red planets North Pole region taken by the medium-resolution camera， CNSA said.

Tianwen-1， the countrys first independent Mars mission， was launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket on July 23 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province， kicking off the nations planetary exploration program.

注：① panchromatic 全（泛）色的