Photo/Shetuwang

China's Mars probe has been sent to the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan, and preparations for its upcoming launch are underway, said sources with its developer, the China Academy of Space Technology.

Every 26 months, Mars reaches the closest point to Earth in its orbit, and the nearest launch window to Mars is this year, at which time launching a spacecraft will use the least amount of fuel.

The country announced in April that its first Mars exploration mission was named Tianwen-1. As scheduled, it plans to send a probe to orbit, land, and deploy a rover on the red planet.

The probe will be launched by a Long March-5 carrier rocket.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn