China to land a rover on Mars in mid-May — here’s how it’ll work

For the first few months of 2021, the Martian atmosphere was buzzing with new visitors from Earth. First, it was the UAE Space Agency’s Hope probe, followed by the Chinese Tianwen-1 entering orbit. More recently, Nasa landed the biggest-ever rover on Mars, as well as its companion, an ingenious helicopter. Both have been setting new milestones since. The next visitor to the planet will be Tianwen-1 mission’s lander, which will attempt to reach the surface of Mars in mid-May. To enter the Martian atmosphere, it will use a slightly different technique to previous missions. Landing on Mars is notoriously dangerous –…

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