5 Things you need to know about China's Zhurong Mars Rover

        5 Things you need to know about China's Zhurong Mars Rover

         On 14 May 2021, the Tianwen-1 lander successfully touched down on the surface of Mars, It landed exactly in the selected area called Utopia Planitia on Mars

          On 22 May 2021, the Zhurong rover descended onto the surface of Mars from the rover, thereby begging its scientific journey

Tianwen-1 

The image shows the Tianwen-1 orbiter (bottom) and the capsule holding the lander and the Zhurong Rover(top).

Here are the five things you need to know about the Zhurong Rover

 1.This is China's second attempt at Mars

            China has previously launched a space probe to Mars in 2011 called Yinghuo-1. Unfortunately, it never departed the Earth's atmosphere. Tianwen-1 is China's next attempt at reaching Mars. This mission is a complete success.  

2.This rover does not have a robotic arm but has 6 scientific instruments

        Unlike the Perseverance Rover, the Zhurong rover does not have a scientific arm; but it has 6 scientific instruments for science experiments

The main objectives of the payloads are

(1)

To study the topography and geo structure of Mars.

(2)

To survey the soil structure of Mars and to search ice.

(3)

To examine the elements, minerals, and rocks of Mars.

(4)

To survey the atmosphere characteristics and the surface of Mars.

The science instruments are:

1. ROPER Ground Penetrating Radar
2. RoMAG Mars Surface Magnetic Field Detector
3. MCS Mars Climate Station
4. MarSCoDe Mars Surface Compound Detector
5. MSCam Multi-Spectrum Camera
6. NaTeCam Navigation and Topography Cameras
   

3.This rover has an operational time of about 3 months

        

            Unlike the perseverance rover which will be operational for 2 years, the Zhurong rover has 3 months. This is due to the fact that the Perseverance Rover runs on Nuclear Energy and Zhurong runs on solar power. The 6 scientific instruments utilize most of the power generated.

First colored Image by Zhurong

The above image is the first colored image taken by the Zhurong Rover

4. The landing region is close to the landing spot for NASA's Viking 2 Mission

        The Zhurong Rover touched down in Utopia Planitia, which is close to NASA's previous mission called Viking 2.This area was formed when a meteorite hit Mars millions of years ago. Viking 2 doesn't have the ability to move whereas Zhurong can roam and analyze soil samples

Location of Zhurong

The above image shows the location of the Zhurong rover near Viking 2 Lander

5.Ladder Deployment

        The Zhurong Rover is rolled down to the surface of Mars by a ladder. This ladder emerges from the Lander. It should be noted that this is the very first time this method is used to deploy a Rover

Zhurong Deployment

The ladder deployment is shown in the above Image

Here's another image that compares Zhurong with the other Mars Rovers

Zhurong Rover Comparison

What do you think about this rover? Tell us in the comments

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