First Chinese rover on Mars successfully sends its first images

Greetings dear friends of Project Hope.

China has once again marked a milestone in the space race on the red planet, by successfully landing its first rover on the Martian surface, a complicated feat achieved last Saturday, May 15. The rover or explorer Zhurong, as it was named (the name of a fire god in Chinese mythology) landed on a plain in the northern hemisphere of the planet known as Utopia Planitia, as reported by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA).

Illustration of a rover on Mars. Source: pixabay.com.

With this China has become the third nation to land instruments on Mars, after the United States and Russia, but it is the second to succeed since the Russian rover did not survive more than a few seconds, but the highlight of this fact is that China has become the first country to reach Mars, enter its orbit and bring down a rover in a single mission. This makes this rover a true demonstration of technology.

Now, after spending a few days on the lander, checking by deploying its solar panels to charge its batteries, checking the surroundings and checking the operation of all systems, it has sent back to Earth its first photos.

This image captures part of the Zhurong, showing its solar panels, antenna and the Martian soil. Source: China National Space Administration.

In the first images sent, the landing platform, the module's exit ramp, the solar panels, the rover's antenna and, of course, part of the planet's clear landscape can be seen. Now, according to CNSA, the rover is preparing to leave the landing platform on which it still awaits and which protected it during its descent. The platform has already extended a ramp for the rover to get off the platform and begin to roll soon to explore the surroundings.

In the first images of the Utopia Planitia plain, the terrain is clear and no large rocks are visible, so getting off the platform and rolling a few meters should not be a big challenge for the rover and its six wheels.

The one point I don't like about the mission is that, although the Chinese rover looks a lot like the NASA rovers, it doesn't have as many resources on board as the NASA rovers, which makes this mission more of a showcase of technology. Although it is equipped with some instruments such as a ground-penetrating radar, a panoramic camera and a chemical composition analyzer for dust and rocks, which will allow it to carry out some geological research. But mainly, all the data collected by this mission will be used by the Chinese agency to prepare future more ambitious missions.

The Chinese rover is scheduled for a mission of 90 Martian days, approximately 93 terrestrial days, with which the technicians on the ground hope to detect signs of ice on the red planet.

Let's hope to hear soon about the findings of this mission that not only has confirmed China as a space power, but also has allowed us to make history, making that together with NASA's Perseverance rover we have two active explorers at the same time exploring the red planet.

---

Thanks for coming by to read friends, I hope you liked the information. See you next time.

---