So my final thread this evening..... I reminisced early about the tail end of the Soviet days, when you only ever heard the good news after it had happened. Remind you of anywhere else?
China’s space program today is the same; trying to work out what is happening is a full time journalistic detective story. For that, take a look at @aj_fi who knows everything about China's space program - and the Tianwen mission now in orbit 
So the Tianwen orbiter has arrived in orbit around Mars and here is what we know - and what we can reasonably expect over the next few months.....
For the next two months, the orbiter will be in its long, looping orbit which will alter to a near polar orbit. Its near point is over the proposed landing site for the lander in Utopia Planitia so it can get high resolution images
The orbiter carries a suite of instruments that will look at the planet and its atmosphere, its surface and how Mars interacts with the local environment
The landing rover is about the size of Spirit and Opportunity with a similar package of instruments. There is a competition to name it -- space.com/china-tianwen-….
Beyond this mission, China is planning on returning samples from Mars about the same time as the joint ESA/NASA attempts in 2030 or so
It is the start of a concerted political effort by China in space that promises to be exciting, and for some, no doubt, unsettling
And if you want a page turning story, try @drdwhitehouse’s “Space 2069” which is a fabulous guide through what will happen in the next few years in space - and China's longer term aims
And about four minutes ago.... gulp... we reached this milestone in the #countdowntomars
And on that note, time to conclude my tweetings in this thread - and tomorrow, I will look at why people have always thought there might be life on Mars -- and when, where and how people have announced it......
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