Chinese space tracking ships complete monitoring of Mars probe launch

Three space tracking ships of China's Yuanwang fleet completed maritime monitoring of the country's 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 China's Mars probe into the Earth-Mars transfer orbit.

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.

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

The monitoring process lasted nearly 30 minutes.

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

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