BEIJING: As Zhurong Mars rover embarks on its mission to explore the surface of the Red Planet for at least 3 Martian months, approximately 92 days on Earth, the chief designer of China’s first Mars exploration mission shared the vision for the next goals under a national plan called “planetary exploration,” which is to send more Tianwen-series probes to planets, including Mars and Jupiter, to collect samples and carry out key technology research.
The touchdown of the Tianwen-1 probe on Mars – which marks that China has become the third nation to achieve such a feat, following Russia and the US – may be far from enough for China’s ambition for interplanetary expedition, as China is expected to send humans to Mars and launch more interplanetary missions to enhance people’s knowledge of the unknown and improve the capacity of the country, Chinese space observers noted. Aiming to achieve “orbiting, landing and roving” all in one mission, China’s Tianwen-1 probe, which touched down successfully, has entered its exploration phase.
Named after an ancient fire god of Chinese mythology, the 1.85-meter-tall and 240-kilogram Zhurong Mars rover has been deployed after successful soft-landing at the planned site in the southern part of a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia on Mars early Saturday morning. Six scientific payloads – a pair of navigation and terrain cameras, a multispectral camera, a Mars surface composition detector, a penetrating radar, a mast-mounted magnetometer and a Mars climate station – were installed on Zhurong to study the topography, geology, soil structure, minerals and rock types and atmosphere.
The orbiter will not only provide relay communications for the rover, but also cover the entire planet in about two years, Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of China’s first Mars exploration mission, said in an interview on China Central Television (CCTV), China’s state broadcaster, on Saturday.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
