Zhurong: China’s Mars probe sending its first images

Chinese Mars-Rover “Zhurong” has pictures for the first time Land Smartly. Chinese state media reported that “all systems are operating normally.” One of the images shows the rover after its landing on the Red Planet, and the other shows the separation between the Zorong and the spacecraft.

China wasn’t the first until Saturday Successful landing on Mars. The orbiter “Tianwen 1” has also reached its orbit around Mars as planned and is now ensuring contact with Earth. This is how the images can reach Earth.

Until now that was just that United States of America I managed to bring the chariots to Mars. In the 1970s there was also an investigation Soviet Union It landed on the red planet, but the connection quickly broke down. Landing on Mars is extremely difficult. So far, only about half of the attempts have succeeded.

Search on six wheels

The China mission is one of three flights to Mars that took off last summer. The United Arab Emirates and the United States have also sent space ships. Rover United States “Perseverance” has already landed in February The work has begun.

The Chinese vehicle has landed in the Utopia Planetia area. The six-wheeled “Zorong”, named after the Chinese god of fire, is supposed to conduct investigations for at least three months.

The Mars Mission is by no means the only space project in China. A few hours before the arrival of the Mars images, a “Long March 4B” missile was launched from the Jiuquan space station in the Gobi Desert and transported a satellite into space to observe the oceans.

Will only China stay in space permanently soon?

Meanwhile, preparations for the imminent launch of the cargo flight to the main unit of the future Chinese space station were underway at the other Wenchang space station on the island of Hainan in southern China. The “Long March 7” missile is scheduled to take off Wednesday at 7:30 pm CET. Then 1.30 am at the site. However, China has not officially confirmed the date. However, police are already blocking traffic around the space station – an indication that the launch may be imminent.

The mission is to bring supplies and fuel to a space unit, That has been in space since the end of April. This mission is the second of a total of eleven flights that China intends to build its “Tiangong” space station, which translates as “Heavenly Palace”, by the end of 2022. If the ISS stops serving it as planned in the next few years, China will be The only country that still occupies a permanent outpost in space.