As the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced this week, the Chinese Tianwen-1 spacecraft has successfully captured images of all of the surface of Mars.

In February 2021, the orbiter, which was also carried by the Zhurong rover, arrived at Mars to conduct the global survey of the planet's surface and has been collecting images of its surface since then.

A total of 1,344 passes were made by the Tianwen-1 orbiter around the planet, observing with scientific instruments such as cameras, magnetometers, spectrometers, and radars. A medium-resolution camera on board the orbiter has recorded images of the entire surface for the past 706 days.

A selection of images taken from orbit by the orbiter has been shared with the public by space journalist Andrew Jones on Twitter. They show impact craters and other terrain features found on the red planet.

A lander has been used to carry the rover to the surface of Mars. There are three parts to the Tianwen-1 mission: an orbiter, a lander, and a rover. 

As the temperatures in this area are getting colder, the rover was transferred to the dormant mode in May. In December, it will be reactivated once temperatures rise.

Even though they have now completed their primary missions, the rover and orbiter will continue to be used as exploration tools in the future.

There has been a report from the Canadian National Space Agency that the agency has collected 1,040GB of data from them, including the orbiter data, which has been shared with other space agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

A white paper released in 2021, which laid out the past and plans of the agency, suggested this sharing of data was indicative of the famously secretive CNSA becoming more open about its work. 

In addition, the CNSA reported that its Zhurong rover recently communicated in orbit with the Mars Express spacecraft, an orbiter of the European Space Agency.