BEIJING: China on Thursday launched its first independent mission to Mars.

An unmanned spacecraft — Tianwen-1 — blasted off today on a yearlong journey to Mars.

It lifted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch site on China’s southern Hainan Island aboard a Long March 5 rocket as hundreds of cheering fans gathered on beaches across the bay to witness the event, a VOA report said.

The Tianwen-1, which translates into “Heavenly Questions” or “Questions to Heaven,” is expected to reach the Red Planet by February, it said.

Once it enters orbit, a landing probe will detach and land on the planet’s Utopia Planitia region, where it will release a small solar-powered rover that will explore the surface for at least three months, according to the report.

The landing would make China the second nation to place a spacecraft on the Martian surface.

The United States has already landed eight probes since 1976.

This mission is the most ambitious undertaking of China’s rapidly evolving space program.

(With inputs from VOA)