Stunning images of the red planet's most distinctive features have been beamed back by China's Mars-orbiting spacecraft.
The entire planet of Mars has been imaged by the Tianwen-1 spaceship. The images were released by China with the announcement.
China's state media reported that the spaceship has circled Mars more than 1,300 times since it fell into its current location in February. The rover was dropped into a huge field of volcanic rock on Mars that may hold water. The rover was named after ancient Chinese mythology's god of fire and was supposed to explore the region and find water ice.
Water is a crucial resource if humans are sent to Mars. It can be used to break down astronauts into hydrogen and oxygen. It's not likely that spaceships will be able to carry enough water, oxygen, and hydrogen for the entire trip to Mars.
According to state media, the rover traveled over 2 kilometers before going into a state of hibernation. The rover is expected to come back on line in December.
This was the first time that a landing platform was dropped onto the surface of Mars and a rover was deployed all in one expedition.
There were craters in the pictures. The Maunder crater is about 90 kilometers wide and is partially filled with sand and Mars material.
One image shows a view of the canyon system that is almost as large as the US. There are canyons that reach up to four miles deep. The Grand Canyon is just one mile deep.
State media reported on Wednesday that the scientific missions of the Tianwen-1 robot have been completed. State media said that the data beamed back to Earth was 1,040 gigabytes.
The findings are not clear at the moment.
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