China lands its Zhurong rover on Mars

15 May 2021 07:23 am - 13 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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China has successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars, state media announced early on Saturday. The six-wheeled Zhurong robot was targeting Utopia Planitia, a vast terrain in the planet's northern hemisphere.

The vehicle used a combination of a protective capsule, a parachute and a rocket platform to make the descent.

The successful touchdown is a remarkable achievement, given the difficult nature of the task.

Only the Americans have really mastered landing on Mars until now. With this landing, China becomes the second country to put a rover on Mars.

Zhurong, which means God of Fire, was carried to Mars on the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which arrived above the planet in February.

The time since has been spent surveying Utopia, taking high-resolution images to pinpoint the safest place to put down.

The aim with all such ventures is to pick a spot, as far as possible, that is devoid of imposing craters and large boulders.

Chinese engineers have to follow events with a time lag.

The current distance to Mars is 320 million km, which means radio messages take almost 18 minutes to reach Earth.

Every stage of the Zhurong's approach to the surface therefore has to be managed autonomously.

The entry (into the atmosphere), descent and landing strategy follows a familiar architecture.

At the chosen moment, the rover, encased in an aeroshell, is released from the Tianwen orbiter and dives downwards.

A heatshield on the capsule slows the fall by pushing up against the Martian air. A parachute then opens to reduce the velocity still further. Finally, the robot breaks away on a rocket-powered bench for the manoeuvres that take it to the ground.

It is a daunting challenge, but China has shown great competence of late in its space endeavours, which have included putting two rovers on the Moon.

Now that Zhurong has got down successfully, scientists will try to get at least 90 Martian days of service out of it, studying the local geology. A day, or Sol, on Mars lasts 24 hours and 39 minutes.

The robot looks a lot like the American space agency's (Nasa) Spirit and Opportunity vehicles from the 2000s. It weighs some 240kg and is powered by fold-out solar panels.

A tall mast carries cameras to take pictures and aid navigation; five additional instruments will help assess the mineralogy of local rocks and look for any water-ice below ground. (BBC)

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Comments - 13

Seqi Saturday, 15 May 2021 07:43 AM

Nicely done. Congratulations to the people of China. Way to go.

Chinavirus Saturday, 15 May 2021 08:17 AM

I hope they didn't send corona to mars

karu Saturday, 15 May 2021 10:15 AM

Aiyo.we have to be nice to China. Worlds vaccine supplier India being out of action, sinopharm and Sputnik vaccines are our only option. don't forget Sputnik vaccine also made in China even though its Russian technology.

Charles Saturday, 15 May 2021 09:24 AM

All stolen technology from the west.

Sri Saturday, 15 May 2021 09:28 AM

All Asians except the Indians would feel proud that a non white country is successfully challenging the White Man who thinks he owns the universe.

Em Saturday, 15 May 2021 10:00 AM

Congratulations China

PAJ Perera Saturday, 15 May 2021 10:17 AM

Hope we will able to get a clear picture of evolution of planets and life in some of them.. Congratulations!

Lumbini Saturday, 15 May 2021 10:35 AM

The only difference here is that, unlike NASA, the data collected from the mission is not shared with the rest of the world.

Joshua Saturday, 15 May 2021 12:12 PM

It is a great scientific achievement.

ala Saturday, 15 May 2021 01:46 PM

is this rohitha's rocket?

Shitlank Perera Saturday, 15 May 2021 02:24 PM

Sri Lankan kollo wasai boys must have got hard hearing this news.

Masks Saturday, 15 May 2021 02:37 PM

China has already landed us on corona and no one knows what is going to happen to this world after the landing on Mars.

Peacemaker Saturday, 15 May 2021 08:21 PM

Under gota and henchmen, SL has become a Chinese colony, but is there any benefit other than loan traps? No technology sharing or anything, rajapaksas even sell their wives to China for commissions

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China lands its Zhurong rover on Mars

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