China has been on Mars for a year
[IN VIDEO] Zhurong: its first sounds on Mars Zhurong is the first Chinese rover to set foot on Mars. And on June 27, 2021, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) released a series of audio files he recorded. A first ! It was May 22, 2021, as the rover fired up its engines and rolled down the lander ramps to roll across the Red Planet's soil. (Chinese translated to English) :copyright: CCTV Video News Agency
It was a year ago on March 15: the Chinese rover landed on Martian soil . For the first time in its history, China is present on the soil of another planet. Shortly after landing, the landing platform deposited the rover , which then made its first turns. Since then, Zhurong has covered 1,921 meters (distance communicated on May 6, 2022). It continues to cross the Martian plain of Utopia Planitia to the south.
Rover wheel tracks captured from Mars orbit by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. :copyright: NASA/JPL/CalTech/UArizona
If it is its birthday, the rover will however experience its first winter ; as a reminder, a Martian year lasts 687 days on Earth, i.e. almost two years for us! The rover will conserve its batteries more during the winter . Therefore, he will work less time per day. In one year, Zhurong has already sent 940 GB of data jointly with the Tianwen-1 orbital probe which brought him into Mars orbit . The probe is still active and continues to map the surface of the Red Planet in order to choose the site for a future collection of samples to bring back to Earth. Zhurong continues his study of soil and subsoil structure.
Image of the Triolet crater taken by the Tianwen-1 probe. :copyright: CNSA/Pec
Selfie of Zhurong taken a few days after landing. The rover had dropped off a camera to do so. We can see behind on the right the lander which deposited the rover. It was a year ago ! :copyright: Clep, CNSA
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