⁍ In 2020, Mars is at its closest to Earth, at a distance of about 55 million km (34 million miles), in a window of about a month that opens once every 26 months.

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⁍ The probe is expected to reach Mars in February where it will try to land in Utopia Planitia, a plain in the northern hemisphere.

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⁍ China previously made a Mars bid in 2011 with Russia, but the Russian spacecraft carrying the probe failed to exit the Earth’s orbit and disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean.

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– China launched its first mission to Mars on Thursday, hoping to make history by becoming the first country to orbit, land, and deploy a rover on the red planet. The Tianwen-1 probe blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on a Long March 5 Y-4 rocket, Reuters reports. The probe is scheduled to reach Mars in February, where it will attempt to land and deploy a rover for 90 days. “The mission must necessarily be challenging, and not be following in the footsteps of others completely,” Liu Tongjie, a spokesman for the mission, tells Reuters. “This is an exploration project, so there will be no 100% assurance of success. If the mission is unsuccessful, or if there are problems, we will continue to push ahead, re-establish the project, and re-commit.” The US, the European Space Agency, and the former Soviet Union are the only other countries to have sent probes to Mars, which is currently in an orbit around the Earth, or on its surface. Eight spacecraft are currently either orbiting Mars or on its surface, with other missions underway or planned. The United Arab Emirates launched a $200 million mission to Mars on Monday, an orbiter that will study the planet’s atmosphere. The United States’ upcoming 2020 mission costs more than $2 billion. China previously made a Mars bid in 2011 with Russia, but the Russian spacecraft carrying the probe failed to exit the Earth’s orbit and disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean.