BEIJING -- After landing on Mars, China's Tianwen 1 probe will detect the surface and internal structure of the red planet by using its onboard radar equipment.

A ground-penetrating radar, a key probe instrument, was developed by the Aerospace Information Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is expected to survey the Martian soil and ice, and to collect data about the structure beneath the planet's surface at depths of between 10 and 100 meters.

China launched its first Mars probe, Tianwen 1, on Thursday, kicking off the country's independent planetary exploration mission.

According to scientists, the Mars probe will take about seven months to land on the planet.