iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Spot gold was trading at $2,384.14 per ounce at 9.25 am UAE time, up 0.17 per cent
KT APPDOWNLOAD
China launches Mars probe in space race with US
Wenchang - The probe was carried by a Long-March 5 rocket that took off from the base of Wenchang.
Engines blazing orange, a Long March-5 carrier rocket took off under clear skies around 12.40pm from Hainan Island, south of China's mainland. Hundreds of space enthusiasts cried out excitedly on a beach across the bay from the launch site.
The two countries are taking advantage of a period when Earth and Mars are favourably aligned for a short journey, with the US spacecraft due to lift off on July 30 pic.twitter.com/UwKAbRh35r
- AFP news agency (@AFP) July 23, 2020
Launch commander Zhang Xueyu announced to cheers in the control room that the rocket was flying normally about 45 minutes later. "The Mars rover has accurately entered the scheduled orbit," he said in brief remarks shown live on state broadcaster CCTV.
China's space agency said that the rocket carried the probe for 36 minutes before successfully placing it on the looping path that will take it beyond Earth's orbit and eventually into Mars' more distant orbit around the sun.
"China joining (the Mars race) will change the situation dominated by the US for half a century," said Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaikonauts.com, which specialises in China's space programme.
China has already sent two rovers to the Moon. With the second, China became the first country to make a successful soft landing on the far side.
The Moon missions gave China experience in operating spacecraft beyond Earth orbit, but Mars is another story.
The much greater distance means "a bigger light travel time, so you have to do things more slowly as the radio signal round trip time is large," said McDowell.
It also means "you need a more sensitive ground station on Earth because the signals will be much fainter," he added, noting that there is a greater risk of failure.
China has upgraded its monitoring stations in the far-western Xinjiang region and northeastern Heilongjiang province to meet the Mars mission requirements, state news agency Xinhua reported last week.
The majority of the dozens of missions sent by the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and India to Mars since 1960 ended in failure.
Tianwen-1 is not China's first attempt to go to Mars.
A previous mission with Russia in 2011 ended prematurely as the launch failed.
Now, Beijing is trying on its own.
"As long as (Tianwen) safely lands on the Martian surface and sends back the first image, the mission will... be a big success," Chen said.
More news from
Passengers already in Dubai and in transit will continue to be processed for their flights, the airlines said
The airline also suspended flights to Iran amid reports of an Israeli strike
Expect fair to partly cloudy conditions today with chances of fog and mist formation in some areas
Iran fired air defense batteries after reports of explosions near a major airbase at the city of Isfahan
Other requests include residents seeking assistance with cleaning mud accumulation, restoring damaged furniture
Many students wade through waist-deep water to head to neighbour's house for online classes
With 30% of their inventory damaged, owners of Preloved Books now face the daunting task of rebuilding from scratch
