01 October 2020
The China National Space Administration released mid-flight images of Mars probe Tianwen 1 on 1 October. It is the first time that Tianwen 1 took selfies. The images were captured by a separating measurement sensor installed on the outer wall of Tianwen 1. With commands from ground control on Earth, the sensor separated from Tianwen 1 and took one picture every second with its two wide-angle lenses. The images were sent to Tianwen 1 via Wi-Fi and then dispatched to Earth. As of midnight on 30 September, Tianwen 1 has flown about 188 million km and is currently 24.10 million km away from Earth. All probe systems are in good condition.
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