The country's space agency is set to achieve an important milestone on Wednesday as its spacecraft, Tianwen-1, will attempt to orbit Mars. If successful, China plans to send a lander and robotic rover to the planet later this year. This would make China the third country, after NASA, to have spacecraft studying Mars. China has announced that Tianwen-1 will reach Mars on Wednesday. The China National Space Administration and state media have not given further details, as they tend to keep their missions secret. However, they have become more open in the past year, even livestreaming the Chang'e-4 mission launch to the moon. Tianwen-1 was launched from China in July, strategically taking advantage of the closest point between Mars and Earth in their orbits around the sun. This enables a brief journey between the two worlds. The spacecraft has used its engines multiple times to adjust its trajectory and align itself with Mars. The latest engine firing took place on Feb 5, capturing images of Mars from a distance of approximately 1.3 million miles. On Wednesday, the engines will be ignited again to use up most of the remaining fuel for a braking maneuver, significantly reducing its speed and allowing it to be captured by Martian gravity. It will orbit Mars at a safe distance along with other robotic explorers, getting ready for a surface landing in the future. There have been numerous failed missions to Mars in the history of spaceflight, such as a Chinese mission in 2011 that never left Earth's orbit due to a failed Russian rocket. Some spacecraft have also faced challenges during the process of entering Martian orbit, like NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999 which burned up in the Martian atmosphere due to a navigation error caused by not converting English units to metric. In 1992, NASA's Mars Observer spacecraft lost communication just days before its planned arrival at Mars, possibly due to a fuel line issue. This incident was reminiscent of the Soviet Mars 4 mission in 1974, which failed to fire its retro rockets and drifted away from Mars. While orbiting Mars is a challenge, landing on the planet is an even greater feat. The question remains: when will China successfully land on Mars? The orbiter currently carries a lander and rover, which are tasked with navigating the complex journey to the Martian surface. China has announced plans to land on Mars in May at Utopia Planitia, a large basin in the northern hemisphere that was likely impacted by a meteor and previously visited by NASA's Viking 2 lander in 1976. The Tianwen-1 mission aims to study the distribution of ice in this region, which could be crucial for sustaining future human colonies on Mars. Landing on Mars is a dangerous endeavor due to the high speed at which spacecraft must descend and the thin atmosphere that provides little assistance in slowing down the descent. Air resistance continues to produce high levels of heat that need to be absorbed or released. Several Soviet, NASA, and European missions have failed upon landing. NASA is the only agency to have successfully landed more than once. The Chinese spacecraft will spend a significant amount of time orbiting Mars to assess systems and select a safe landing location. If the rover successfully lands, it will require a name. Following recommendations from individuals in China, a group of specialists chose 10 semifinalists. These include Hongyi, named after a Chinese term for determination and perseverance; Qilin, a mythical hoofed creature in Chinese folklore; and Nezha, a youthful deity known as a protector of rebellious youth. What other space achievements has China made recently? In July, China successfully launched a mission to Mars, after previously completing a mission to the moon and returning with lunar samples through the Chang’e-5 mission which launched in November. The most recent cache of moon rocks was collected during China's Chang'e-4 mission, which landed on the far side of the moon over two years ago. Additionally, the United Arab Emirates' space agency recently sent an orbiter named Hope to Mars to study the planet's atmosphere and weather patterns. The third newcomer to Mars will be Perseverance, the latest rover from NASA. Unlike the other two spacecraft, it launched in July and will travel directly to the planet's surface on Feb. 18 without orbiting Mars. Perseverance is NASA's fifth rover on Mars and shares similarities with Curiosity, currently exploring the Gale crater. Equipped with a different set of scientific tools, Perseverance will investigate the Jezero crater, a former lake where scientists hope to find evidence of ancient Martian microbial life. The mission will also attempt to fly a helicopter in the thin Martian atmosphere, a first for the red planet. The Ingenuity helicopter from NASA will be released by the rover shortly after landing on Mars. It will conduct several test flights in the thin Martian atmosphere to show that exploration of Mars can be done from the air as well as the ground. In addition to the Ingenuity helicopter, there are currently six orbiters around Mars studying the planet from space. NASA sent three spacecraft to Mars: Mars Odyssey was launched in 2001, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005, and MAVEN in 2013. Europe has two spacecraft in orbit: Mars Express, launched in 2003, and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, launched in 2016 in collaboration with Russia. India operates the sixth spacecraft, the Mars Orbiter Mission, also known as Mangalyaan, which was launched in 2013. Additionally, two American missions are currently operating on the ground. Curiosity has been exploring since 2012, while InSight has been examining marsquakes and other internal features of Mars since 2018. The Opportunity rover, a third American mission, ceased functioning in 2019 due to a dust storm draining its power.