The first images from China鈥檚 Zhurong Mars rover show a successful landing on the surface of the Red Planet. Photos released today show the landing platform and departure ramp for the rover, as well as solar panels and antenna. The rover is now carrying out final preparations before leaving the landing platform and beginning its mission.
Zhurong is China鈥檚 first Mars rover and had been orbiting the planet aboard the Tianwen-1 spacecraft since February, before touching down on 14 May. The successful landing makes it the third country to put a rover on the surface of the planet, following the US and the Soviet Union.
Tianwen-1 is China鈥檚 first successful interplanetary mission and the first it has attempted solo. A previous collaboration with Russia didn鈥檛 make it out of Earth鈥檚 orbit due to a rocket failure in 2011.
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Over the past few months, Tianwen-1 has been taking pictures of Zhurong鈥檚 landing site in Utopia Planitia to make sure conditions there are safe. This is the same enormous impact basin where NASA鈥檚 Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976. Tianwen-1 has now entered a new orbit, establishing a stable communication link with the Mars rover to send back images.
The rover itself sits inside a lander that protected it as it fell towards Mars鈥檚 surface, slowing down with the help of a heat shield, parachutes and a set of small thrusters. The lander has now extended a ramp and Zhurong will soon roll out. Photographs show that the terrain ahead is clear.
Zhurong is about 1.8 metres tall and weighs 240 kilograms, slightly larger than NASA鈥檚 now-defunct聽Spirit and Opportunity rovers聽but much smaller than Curiosity and聽Perseverance, which landed earlier this year. It is powered by solar panels, which are expected to keep it moving for 90 Martian days.
The rover is designed to study Mars鈥檚 geological structure, the composition of its surface and underlying layers of rock and ice, its magnetic field and its climate. To accomplish this, Zhurong is equipped with cameras, ground-penetrating radar, a magnetic field detector, a weather station and an instrument to measure the chemical composition of the dust and rocks. The Tianwen-1 orbiter has its own set of instruments to study Mars from orbit, in addition to relaying data from the rover back to Earth.
Tianwen-1 and Zhurong are also meant as a technology demonstration, setting the stage for a planned mission in the 2030s to bring back samples from Mars.
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