On July 23, at precisely 12:41 P.M. Beijing time, with the planets aligned in favorable ways, China launched its ambitious Mars probe mission from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island, a blast-off fueled by the country’s biggest “Long March” rocket, the CZ5.  The unmanned spacecraft, dubbed Tianwen-1 — or “quest for heavenly truth” — is a multi-functional vessel that will make a six-month-long journey to Mars of more than 300 million miles. When it finally reac