Tianwen-1 / Zhurong
Live position
This mission operates in deep space — beyond the regime where SGP4 and CelesTrak TLEs apply. Real-time positioning needs NASA's JPL Horizons system, which isn't wired up yet. We track ISS, Tiangong, Hubble, and Chandra in low/high Earth orbit instead.
About this mission
China's first independent Mars mission, combining an orbiter, a lander, and the Zhurong rover. Made China the second nation to successfully operate a rover on Mars when Zhurong rolled onto Utopia Planitia in May 2021.
This mission has been operating for 2,105 days (5.8 years) — and it's still going.
Rovers explore planetary surfaces autonomously, analysing rocks and soil. Each driving day is carefully planned by operators on Earth.
Timeline
Tianwen-1 orbiter + Zhurong rover — 3D Model
Procedural representation based on spacecraft class. Not to scale.
Other missions to Mars
Perseverance
Landed in Jezero Crater, an ancient river delta. Carries the Ingenuity helicopter — the first powered flight on another planet.
InSight
The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission was a robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of the planet Mars. It was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space, was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and two of its three scientific instruments were built by European agencies. InSight confirmed "marsquakes" on the planet and thus a still active interior.
MAVEN
MAVEN is a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars to study the loss of its atmospheric gases to space, providing insight into the history of the planet's climate and water. The name is an acronym for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution" while the word maven also denotes "a person who has special knowledge or experience; an expert".