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China’s Tianwen 1 Mars mission wins top international aerospace award

  • Team recognised for making an ‘essential contribution to a deeper understanding of Mars and the solar system’
  • It’s the second time a Chinese group has been granted the honour

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Tianwen 1 achieved orbiting, landing, and roving on Mars in one mission for the first time in history, according to the IAF. Photo: EPA-EFE
Ling Xin
The team behind China’s Tianwen 1 Mars spacecraft received the world’s highest aerospace award in Paris on Sunday.
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The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) said the Tianwen 1 mission, which landed on the red planet last year, “offered an innovative option for successful Mars exploration and contributed to the advancement of deep space exploration technology”.

“Tianwen 1 achieved orbiting, landing, and roving on Mars in one mission for the first time in history. The scientific data acquired during the mission made an essential contribution to a deeper understanding of Mars and the solar system,” the federation said.

Sun Zezhou, chief designer of the Tianwen 1 system, accepted the World Space Award on behalf of the team from IAF president Pascale Ehrenfreund at the International Astronautical Congress.

It is the second time a Chinese team has been given the award. Two years ago, scientists from the Chang’e 4 mission were recognised for leading the world’s first robotic spacecraft landing on the far side of the moon. Sun was also the chief designer of that probe.

By Thursday, the Tianwen 1 orbiter had been operating for more than 780 days, the mission’s Zhurong rover had travelled nearly 2km (1.2 miles) across the Martian surface and the mission had fully completed its exploration goals, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Sunday.

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