China issues commemorative coins to mark its first Mars mission

Photo shows a set of commemorative coins celebrating the success of China's first Mars mission issued by the country's central bank. (China Gold Coin Incorporation/Handout via Xinhua)

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank issued a set of commemorative coins Monday to celebrate the success of the country's first Mars mission.

The success of the mission marks an important step in China's interstellar exploration and has left a Chinese mark on Mars for the first time. Orbiting, landing and roving on the planet has been achieved in one launch mission for the first time in the world.

The commemorative set contains two gold coins and one silver coin.

All coins feature the logo of China's planetary exploration missions, the country name and year of issuance on the obverse, while the reverse shows images of orbiting, landing and roving by the mission and a line --"China's first Mars mission Tianwen-1 succeeds" -- in Chinese.

China's Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, lander, and rover, was launched on July 23, 2020.

As of Monday, the Mars rover Zhurong has traveled 1,064 meters on the red planet's surface since it set its wheels on Martian soil on May 22.