Chinese space tracking ships complete monitoring of Mars probe launch

The other two tracking ships, Yuanwang-5 and Yuanwang-7, then took turns to complete their missions.

About six minutes after the liftoff, Yuanwang-6 detected and locked its targets, and carried out measuring of the rocket, and control and monitoring of the Mars orbiter.

As scheduled, Yuanwang-5 and Yuanwang-7 will return to China, while Yuanwang-6 will sail to its next mission area for satellite monitoring.

Photo/Guo Cheng (Xinhua)

The monitoring process lasted nearly 30 minutes.

Three space tracking ships of Chinas Yuanwang fleet completed maritime monitoring of the countrys first Mars probe launch in the Pacific Ocean Thursday.

A Long March-5 rocket blasted off Thursday from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan, sending Chinas Mars probe into the Earth-Mars transfer orbit.