Breaking news from the arXiv preprint site:
Astrophysics > Earth and Planetary Astrophysics arxiv.org/abs/2603.10350
Ren, X. Yan, W. Zhao, R. et al. Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Observed from Mars by China’s Tianwen-1 Spacecraft
Standard Disclaimer: ArXiv is ArXiv. If you haven’t gathered by now, the site is a site that makes up its own rules, not the rules of peer-reviewed science journals.
The trajectory of our little visitor had entered, and will exit, the Solar System. During that time, 3I/ATLAS never made a close pass by Earth, but it did get somewhat close to Mars. Probes sent to that planet have cameras designed to work at a range of a few hundred to a few thousand miles (or kilometers or what have you). Using them on ATLAS is a reach, no doubt. But they were usable, especially when Earth telescopes were not usable due to solar conjunction (ATLAS appearing next to the Sun in our sky).
Let there be no conspiracy theories: ATLAS is an object in the sky. Anyone who takes the time and effort to have a nice instrument can observe it. There are amateurs observing it; their smaller telescopes are just showing fewer details, as one would expect. China happened to have a nicer instrument.