A question I often get about Tianwen-1, China's Mars mission, is "Why is it spending months mapping its own landing site when NASA's HiRISE data is public available and better resolution?"

I did some digging in JMARS to find out! THREAD My friend @AJ_FI published the coordinates of the landing site here.

It's in Utopia Planitia at 110.318 E and 24.748 N.

spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aero…

We're coming up to the launch of #Tianwen1 🇨🇳 tonight, the second #Mars mission launching this summer after @HopeMarsMission this past weekend.

Here's a tweet thread to get you primed for this ambitious mission! (1/n)

📸 CNSA #Tianwen1 is China's first *dedicated* attempt at #Mars, but not their first attempt!

In 2011, they flew Yinghuo-1, a tiny experimental spacecraft as a rideshare on the Russian Fobos-Grunt mission. (2/n)

📸 NPO Lavochkin