Tuesday, July 13, 2021

China's Mars rover sends new photos of red planet's surface

Updated 09-Jul-2021
CGTN

The China National Space Administration on Friday released new photos of the Martian surface captured by the country's first Mars rover Zhurong.

Zhurong has been working on the red planet for 54 Martian days and has traveled more than 300 meters.

Since it drove onto Mars, the rover has been traveling south and conducting detections. Its navigation camera has captured the images of the landform along the way.

During its journey, the surface-search radar, meteorology monitor and magnetic field detector all work to conduct survey.

When it encounters special landforms such as rocks and sand dunes, the surface composition detector and multispectral camera on it will carry out fixed-point detection.
 

Rocks on Mars. /CNSA

Rocks and dust on Mars. /CNSA

Sand dunes on Mars. /CNSA


Sand dunes on Mars. /CNSA




Stones on Mars. /CNSA


China's Tianwen-1 Mars probe was launched on July 23, 2020.

On May 15, 2021, the lander, carrying the Zhurong rover, touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars. A week later, Zhurong separated from the lander and started exploring the red planet, making China the second country after the United States to land and operate a rover on Mars.

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