Photos: Chinese spacecraft acquires images of entire planet of Mars

An image of Mars taken by China's Tianwen-1 unmanned probe is seen in this handout image released by China National Space Administration (CNSA) on June 29, 2022. The uncrewed spacecraft has acquired imagery data covering all of Mars, including visuals of its south pole, after circling the planet more than 1,300 times since early last year, state media reported on Wednesday.

China's Tianwen-1 successfully reached the Red Planet in February 2021 on the country's inaugural mission there. This picture released on May 19, 2021, by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) via CNS shows an image taken by the navigation camera of China's Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars, showing the rover's solar panels and antenna, after it landed on Mars on May 15, 2021.

A robotic rover has since been deployed on the surface as an orbiter surveyed the planet from space. Above: Chinese rover Zhurong of the Tianwen-1 mission drives down the ramp of the lander onto the surface of Mars, in this screenshot taken from a video released by China National Space Administration (CNSA) May 22, 2021.

An image of Mars taken by China's Tianwen-1 unmanned probe is seen in this handout image released by China National Space Administration (CNSA) on June 29, 2022.

Among the images taken from space were China's first photographs of the Martian south pole, where almost all of the planet's water resources are locked.

Other Tianwen-1 images include photographs of the 4,000-kilometre (2,485-mile) long canyon Valles Marineris, and impact craters of highlands in the north of Mars known as Arabia Terra.

Tianwen-1 also sent back high-resolution imagery of the edge of the vast Maunder crater, as well as a top-down view of the 18,000-metre (59,055-foot) Ascraeus Mons, a large shield volcano first detected by NASA's Mariner 9 spacecraft more than five decades ago.

An image of Mars captured by Chinese rover Zhurong of the Tianwen-1 mission is seen in this image released by China National Space Administration (CNSA) on June 29, 2022.

In 2018, an orbiting probe operated by the European Space Agency had discovered water under the ice of the Mar's south pole. [Illustrative imae]

This photograph (file) released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) shows an image taken by China's Zhurong Mars rover on the surface of Mars. Locating subsurface water is key to determining the planet's potential for life, as well as providing a permanent resource for any human exploration there.