Zhurong starts journey to explore Mars
Print Edition
China鈥檚 Mars rover Zhurong drove down from its landing platform to the Martian surface on Saturday, leaving the country鈥檚 鈥渇ootprints鈥 on the red planet.
Zhurong鈥檚 first successful drive made China the second country after the United States to land and operate a rover on Mars.
The six-wheeled solar-powered rover, resembling a butterfly and with a mass of 240 kilograms, slowly trundled off a ramp on the lander to hit the red, sandy soil of Mars, starting its journey to explore the fourth planet from the sun. According to the telemetry data, Zhurong set its wheels on Martian soil at 10:40am on Saturday, the China National Space Administration said.
China鈥檚 Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020. The lander carrying the rover touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain on the northern hemisphere of Mars, on May 15.
With an expected lifespan of at least 90 days, the rover named after the Chinese god of fire Zhurong will record the Martian landscape with high-resolution three-dimensional images, analyze the material composition of the planet鈥檚 surface, detect its sub-surface structure and magnetic field, search for traces of water ice and observe the surrounding meteorological environment.
Compared with China鈥檚 lunar rover Yutu (Jade Rabbit), Zhurong has a similar speed of about 200 meters per hour, but the height of the obstacles it can surmount increased from 20cm to 30cm. It can climb slopes up to 20 degrees. It is the first Mars rover with an active suspension system. It could help the rover get out of trouble by moving like an inchworm on the complicated Martian surface with both loose sandy soil and densely distributed rocks. It can also walk sideways like a crab.
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