After the NASA Curiosity Rover—which landed on Mars in 2012—and the newer Perseverance—which landed last February—China successfully deployed their own rover on Saturday. The solar-powered Zhurong rover drove down the ramp of its landing capsule on to the Red Planet at about 10:40am Beijing time.
Zhurong, named after the Chinese god of fire, will study Mars’ soil and atmosphere, and will search for signs of water or ice beneath the planet’s surface over the course of its 90-day mission. It landed on Utopia Planitia—a smooth plain where NASA’s Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976.
NASA’s Perseverance rover is also currently doing the same thing, but for Mars’ Jezero Crater area which is more than 1,200 miles from Utopia Planitia. Scientists believe the Crater was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta.
The mission marks China’s first independent trek to Mars. Before this, only NASA has successfully managed to land and operate rovers on the planet in the past. The Soviet Union’s Mars 3 spacecraft landed on the planet in 1971 but went dark after 20 seconds of communication.
There will also be another rover sent to Mars in 2022. The European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos Space Corporation are working together to send the ExoMars 2022 rover for their own Mars study.
[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]
