Tianwen Photo: Li Guiliang

China's first Mars probe Tianwen-1 fired its engine in deep space in a major course-correction maneuver on Friday, China National Space Administration told the Global Times. 

The operation was completed when Tianwen-1 was 29.4 million kilometers from Earth. More maneuvers will be done before it reaches Mars. 

Tianwen Photo: Li Guiliang

Cui Xiaofeng from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center told the Global Times that Friday's operation required the most control inputs so far during Tianwen-1's journey to Mars.

The course correction more directly and accurately aims Tianwen-1 toward Mars, and lays the foundation for "braking" the rover when it approaches Mars. Two or three additional course corrections will be made before Tianwen-1 makes its rendezvous with the red planet after flying hundreds of millions of kilometers.

Tianwen Photo: Li Guiliang

Rao Wei, product manager of the Mars rover products from China Academy of Space Technology, said this is the third time that Tianwen-1 has fired its engine to correct its course. During the previous maneuvers the engine ignition lasted just 10 seconds. During Friday's operation the engine fired for more than eight minutes.

Due to the long distance and data processing, now it takes several minutes for the mission control on Earth to learn about the state of Tianwen-1.