O Chinese government released two images taken by the rover Zhurong on Mars. Both show the region known as “Utopia Planitia”, the largest impact basin not only of “red planet”, But also of the entire Solar System, with approximately 3.3 thousand kilometers in diameter.
The images – one in color and the other in black and white – show parts of the terrain explored by Zhurong (which will concentrate its efforts along the northern region of Mars), as well as some details of the vehicle itself, such as its solar panels or a camera that identifies and avoids obstacles in the robot’s paths.
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The Zhurong is one of the essential parts of the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission, which also has an orbiter positioned on the space, in addition to the landing module (“lander”) that stores the rover. The mission’s objectives are quite ambitious: the first is to ensure the health of the technology and communication control designed for the mission, with Zhurong playing the role of field exploration and media records. The orbiter, on the other hand, will be in charge of locating a suitable land for the assembly of a sample collection structure for when future missions return to the planet.
In addition to the images above, the Chinese government also released two videos of the Zhurong landing maneuver (still inside the module) on Mars soil. The capture was made by the orbiter’s camera, which shows the capsule coming off during the while.
With his arrival, China became the third country to land on Mars, preceded by the United States and Russia. The Zhurong, which weighs about 250 kg, carries six instruments of analysis, including sample collectors and geological and climatic study tools from the Utopia Planitia region. The expectation is that he will continue his work for about three months.
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