China National Space Administration

May 22, 2021

China’s Mars rover has made its first tracks on the red planet

china mars zhurong rover — An artist’s illustration depicts China’s Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars.
China National Space Administration via AP

China’s Zhurong rover, which landed on Mars one week ago, has completed its first test drive.
This makes China only the second nation ever to operate a rover on the red planet.
Zhurong’s cameras have already beamed back photos of the Martian landscape.
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China has become only the second nation to ever drive a rover on Mars, joining the US.

After successfully touching down on the red planet on May 15, the Chinese National Space Administration’s Zhurong rover sat tight on its landing pad, charging up as its solar panels soaked in energy from the sun.

On Saturday, the rover – named after a god of fire in Chinese mythology – finally left its lander behind.

At 10:40 am Beijing time, Zhurong rolled down a ramp and onto the Martian surface, according to a post on the rover’s social media account, Reuters reported.

According to China’s state media outlet, Xinhua, the rover then completed its first test drive, “leaving the country’s first ‘footprints’ on the red planet.”

The mission that brought Zhurong to Mars is called Tianwen-1, meaning “questions to heaven.” It’s the first Mars mission ever to send a spacecraft into the planet’s orbit, drop a landing platform onto the Martian surface, and deploy a rover all in one expedition.

Exploring a volcanic-rock field for signs of water ice

zhurong rover mars china — A screen broadcasts a CCTV state media news bulletin, showing an image of Mars taken by Chinese Mars rover Zhurong as part of the Tianwen-1 mission, in Beijing, China, May 19, 2021.
Thomas Peter/Reuters

The Tianwen-1 lander carried Zhurong inside of it down to Mars’ Utopia Planitia – a giant plain in the planet’s northern hemisphere.

Now that it’s ready to roll, Zhurong will explore the plain and search for underground water ice, while also capturing 3D images of the surface and examining the chemical make-up of Martian soil.

Utopia Planitia is a vast field of ancient volcanic rock that may have extensive reserves of water ice beneath its surface. If space agencies like NASA and CNSA send humans to Mars one day, water would be a crucial resource because it can both sustain astronauts and get broken down into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel. It’s unlikely Mars-bound spaceships could carry enough water, oxygen, and hydrogen for the entire journey there and back.

On Wednesday, China released Zhurong’s first photos from the red planet.

The color image below, taken by the rover’s navigation camera, shows Zhurong’ sitting atop the Tianwen-1 lander with its solar panels unfolded.

china mars rover zhurong — A photo showing the back of China’s Zhurong rover from its landing spot on Mars’ Utopia Planitia following a May 15, 2021 landing.
China National Space Administration

A rover with an active suspension system

Zhurong becomes the sixth rover ever to successfully operate on Mars. In the last 24 years, NASA landed and drove five rovers. The Soviet Union managed to land a rover in 1971, but lost contact with it before the mission could begin.

At 530 pounds, Zhurong is about the size of the twin Spirit and Opportunity rovers NASA put on Mars in 2004.

Zhurong has about 90 days to study the red planet. (That’s its official mission timeline, but Spirit and Opportunity had the same three-month window and ended up exploring Mars for six and 14 years, respectively.)

The Chinese rover can move about 656 feet (200 m) per hour, and drive up and over obstacles that are a foot tall, Xinhua reported.

What makes Zhurong unique, however, is its active suspension system.

NASA’s rovers, including Perseverance, use a passive suspension system called rocker-bogie, which helps the vehicles put the same amount of weight on each of their six wheels. This minimizes how much the rovers tilt over uneven terrain.

But each of Zhurong’s six wheels can be controlled independently, and its active suspension system may adjust how much weight needs to go on each wheel to help rover climb steeper slopes or obstacles.

“It could help the rover get out of trouble” if Zhurong encounters loose sandy soil or densely distributed rocks, Jia Yang, deputy chief designer of the Tianwen-1 mission, told Xinhua.

NASA Perseverance — NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Seán Doran

Now that the Tianwen-1 lander and Zhurong rover have reached Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter are no longer the red planet’s newest arrivals.

Perseverance touched down on Mars three months ago carrying Ingenuity, in part of the planet called the Jezero Crater.

It’s unlikely China and the US’s rovers will ever cross paths. While both Utopia Planitia and the Jezero Crater are in Mars’ northern hemisphere, the distance between the two landing sites is about 1,000 miles.

Morgan McFall-Johnsen contributed reporting to this story.

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May 20, 2021

China’s Mars rover has beamed back its first images of the red planet

china mars global remote sensing and small rover hx 1 martian mission illustration rendering cas xinhua — An illustration of China’s Zhurong rover leaving the lander to explore the Martian surface.
Chinese State Administration of Science/Xinhua

China’s Zhurong rover, which landed on Mars on Saturday, sent back its first images of the planet.
The rover’s cameras snapped photos of the Martian landscape from onboard the Tianwen-1 lander.
China is the third nation ever to land on Mars. Its rover aims to study water ice under the surface.
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China made history on Saturday when it successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars, making it just the third nation ever to do so.

On Wednesday, the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) received its first postcard from the red planet.

The CNSA released the images, one color and one black-and-white, on Wednesday.

The color image below, taken by the navigation camera on China’s Mars rover, shows its solar panels unfolded, soaking in the sun’s ray for energy. The rover is called Zhurong, after a god of fire in Chinese mythology.

China’s Mars mission is called Tianwen-1, meaning “questions to heaven.” It’s the first Mars mission ever to send a spacecraft into the planet’s orbit, drop a landing platform onto the Martian surface, and deploy a rover all in one expedition.

The Tianwen-1 lander carried Zhurong inside of it down to Mars’ Utopia Planitia – a giant plain in the planet’s northern hemisphere. The rover is still in the lander, but it’s expected to drive down a built-in ramp to get off the lander and onto the surface of Mars either Friday or Saturday, Space.com reported.

Zhurong’s obstacle-avoidance camera took the black-and-white image below, which depicts the lander ramp.

Once the rover drives down that ramp, it’s programmed to explore the plain and search for underground water ice.

Once the 530-pound Zhurong rover is on the ground, it has about 90 days to study Mars.

Zhurong is 1,000 miles away from NASA’s Perseverance rover

Now that the Tianwen-1 lander and Zhurong rover have reached Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter are no longer the red planet’s newest arrivals.

Perseverance touched down on Mars three months ago carrying Ingenuity, in part of the planet called the Jezero Crater.

Perseverance is set to explore Mars in search of signs of ancient microbial life. Ingenuity has thus fr flown over the Martian landscape five times.

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May 15, 2021

China has landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time, delivering a water-hunting rover to the red planet

China’s Mars lander and rover touched down on the Martian surface on Friday evening.
China is the third nation to land on Mars, and the first to deploy an orbiter, lander, and rover.
The Zhurong rover aims to study water ice on Mars – a valuable resource for future astronauts.
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China has landed its first spacecraft on the surface of Mars, according to Chinese state media.

The mission, called Tianwen-1, or “questions to heaven,” is the first to send a spacecraft into the planet’s orbit, drop a landing platform onto the Martian surface, and deploy a rover all in one expedition.

If everything went according to plan, a gumdrop-shaped landing capsule separated from the Tianwen-1 orbiter on Friday evening and fell toward Mars. With the lander and rover safely tucked inside, the capsule plummeted through the Martian atmosphere, friction heating the material around it to temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

High above the red-dust Martian surface, a supersonic parachute had to deploy to slow the capsule’s fall. As the lander neared its destination, thrusters should have fired downward to help it decelerate. Then it should have lowered itself to the surface on a set of legs to absorb the impact.

China has not released details about the state of the lander or rover. But if everything is in good shape, the landing would make China the third nation to ever successfully put a robot on the Martian surface. It’s the first non-NASA Mars landing since the Soviet Union’s rover touched down in 1971.

Tianwen-1 launched in July 2020 and the spacecraft slipped into orbit around Mars in February. Landing was “the most challenging part of the mission,” the CNSA previously said. Only half the spacecraft that have ever attempted a Mars landing have succeeded.

china tianwen 1 mission orbiter with lander rover capsule — The Tianwen-1 probe, carrying a lander and rover in a landing capsule, en route to Mars. Photo released December 16, 2020.
CNSA via AP

Now, China’s first Mars lander and rover are sitting in the middle of Utopia Planitia, a vast field of ancient volcanic rock that may have extensive reserves of water ice beneath its surface. If space agencies like NASA someday send humans to Mars, water would be a crucial resource because it can both sustain astronauts and get broken down into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel. It’s unlikely Mars-bound spaceships could carry enough water, oxygen, and hydrogen for the entire journey there and back.

If all goes well, the lander will deploy a two-track ramp for the six-wheeled rover to roll down onto Martian soil. The rover is called Zhurong, named for ancient Chinese mythology’s god of fire, according to the CNSA. It’s set to explore the region and search for its water ice with ground-penetrating radar.

Mars photographed by china tianwen-1 orbiter — The surface of Mars, as photographed by the Tianwen-1 spacecraft circling the planet.
CNSA via AP

The mission is also intended to help China prepare for a future attempt to return Martian rocks or dirt to Earth in the late 2020s.

“Landing safely on Mars is a huge challenge, especially for China’s first soft landing attempt,” Long Xiao, a planetary scientist at the China University of Geosciences, told National Geographic ahead of the attempt. “But it is a necessary step for Mars and deep-space exploration.”

The Zhurong rover has 90 days to explore Mars – for now

china's tianwen-1 zhurong rover replica — A replica of the Tianwen-1 Mars rover is displayed during an exhibition inside the National Museum in Beijing, China, March 3, 2021.
Tingshu Wang/Reuters

At 530 pounds, Zhurong is about the size of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers NASA landed on Mars in 2004. It could take more than a week to deploy the lander’s ramp and roll the rover onto Martian soil, journalist Andrew Jones reported for IEEE Spectrum. Then it will open its butterfly-wing solar panels to soak up the sunlight and charge its batteries.

Once the rover is on the ground, it has about 90 days to study Mars. That’s its official mission timeline, but Spirit and Opportunity had the same three-month window and ended up exploring Mars for six and 14 years, respectively.

The Tianwen-1 orbiter will continue circling the red planet for one Martian year (two Earth years), relaying data to Earth and taking photos. Its main goal is to “perform a global and extensive survey of the entire planet,” according to a journal article by Tianwen-1 scientists.

This will involve charting Mars’ geology, surveying its climate, and measuring its electromagnetic and gravitational fields.

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May 14, 2021

China plans to attempt an ambitious Mars landing as early as Friday, dropping both a lander and a rover to the red planet

china mars tianwen-1 mission photo arrival orbit — The first image of Mars taken by China’s Tianwen-1 probe, released by the China National Space Administration on February 5, 2021.
CNSA/Handout via Reuters

China says it will attempt its first Mars landing sometime between Friday and Tuesday.
If successful, the Tianwen-1 mission will be the first to deploy an orbiter, a lander, and a rover.
China’s Zhurong rover aims to study water ice on Mars – a valuable resource for future astronauts.
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China is about to attempt its first Mars landing – a feat accomplished successfully by only half the spacecraft that have ever tried.

Tianwen-1, as the mission is called, means “questions to heaven.” It aims to be the first Mars mission to send a spacecraft into the planet’s orbit, drop a landing platform onto the Martian surface, and deploy a rover all in one expedition.

The first steps are complete. The mission launched in July 2020 and the spacecraft slipped into orbit around Mars in February. Now the orbiter is preparing to release a capsule carrying the lander and rover. The capsule must plummet through the Martian atmosphere and deploy a parachute, then release the lander, which should fire downward-facing thrusters to lower itself to the Martian surface. If that all goes well, the Tianwen-1 lander will later deploy a two-track ramp for the six-wheeled rover to roll down onto Martian soil.

china tianwen hx 1 mars orbiter lander rover mission launch long march 5 rocket july 23 2020 GettyImages 1227744386 — A Long March 5 rocket carrying China’s Tianwen-1 mission to Mars lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province on July 23, 2020.
Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images

The landing attempt could happen as soon as Friday evening and as late as Tuesday (in Beijing, that’s Saturday to Wednesday), according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Any landing attempt would occur early in the morning Beijing time, the CNSA said. That would be evening on the US East Coast. Twitter accounts that monitor China’s space programs reported that a Friday landing would happen at 7:11 p.m. ET.

Landing is “the most challenging part of the mission,” the CNSA previously said. If the Tianwen-1 lander safely touches down on Martian soil, it would be the first non-NASA Mars landing since the Soviet Union’s rover touched down in 1971. Success would make China the third nation to land on Mars.

The intended landing spot is in Utopia Planitia, a vast field of ancient volcanic rock that may have extensive reserves of water ice beneath its surface. If space agencies like NASA someday send humans to Mars, water would be a crucial resource because it can both sustain astronauts and get broken down into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel. It’s unlikely that Mars-bound spaceships could carry enough water, oxygen, and hydrogen for the entire journey there and back.

China’s 530-pound, solar-powered rover is set to explore the region and study its water ice. The mission is also intended to help China prepare for a future attempt to return Martian rocks or dirt to Earth in the late 2020s.

Tianwen-1 is operating alongside two other recent arrivals on Mars: United Arab Emirates’ Hope probe, which is currently circling the red planet, and NASA’s Perseverance rover, which just began exploring Mars’ Jezero Crater.

7 minutes of terror to land on Mars

When the time comes, China’s gumdrop-shaped landing capsule will separate from the Tianwen-1 orbiter and fall towards Mars.

The capsule must protect the robots inside as it plummets through the Martian atmosphere at temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A supersonic parachute must deploy to slow the fall. As the lander nears its destination, thrusters have to fire downwards to help it decelerate. Then it should lower itself to the surface on a set of legs to absorb the impact.

china's tianwen-1 mars lander prototype testing — A prototype is lifted during a test a Mars lander in Huailai in China’s Hebei province, November 14, 2019.
Andy Wong/AP Photo

As with any Mars landing, the spacecraft must conduct this entire process autonomously. Because it takes at least eight minutes for a signal to travel from Mars to Earth, and vice versa, mission controllers can’t communicate with the spacecraft in real time. When they receive the signal that the capsule is falling towards Mars, it will already be on the surface, dead or alive.

That’s why aerospace engineers refer to this part of a Mars mission as “seven minutes of terror.”

“I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that entry, descent, and landing is the most critical and most dangerous part of a mission,” Allen Chen, who leads that process for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a press briefing before its landing. “Success is never assured.”

Meet Zhurong: the 90-day Mars rover

The rover is called Zhurong, named for ancient Chinese mythology’s god of fire, according to the CNSA. The process of deploying the ramp for the rover and getting it onto Mars’ surface could take more than a week, journalist Andrew Jones reported for IEEE Spectrum.

Zhurong’s name “echoes with the Chinese name of the red planet, Huoxing (meaning the planet of fire),” according to a CNSA statement. “Fire brought warmth and brightness to the ancestors of humankind, and fire lit up human civilization. Naming China’s first Mars rover after the god of fire signifies igniting the flame of China’s planetary exploration.”

Zhurong is set to explore Utopia Planitia for 90 Martian days, according to a journal article by scientists on the Tianwen-1 team.

Meanwhile, the orbiter will continue circling the red planet for one Martian year (two Earth years), relaying data to Earth and taking photos. Its main goal, according to the scientists, is to “perform a global and extensive survey of the entire planet.”

This will involve charting Mars’ geology, surveying its climate, and measuring its electromagnetic and gravitational fields.

This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on May 13, 2021.

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