China's Mars Rover Mission lands on Red Planet; becomes 2nd country to do so
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After NASA, Chinese space agencies spacecraft carrying the Mars exploration rover, 'Zhurong' has successfully touchdown on Martines surface on Saturday morning. With that China has got successful in left a footprint on Mars surface for the first time and becomes the second country after the US to send a rover to the surface of the Red Planet. The country has achieved a major milestone in the first attempt.
The Chinese state media reported that Tianwen-1 touched down on Utopia Planitia a Large plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars on Saturday at about 7. am. According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, an entry capsule enclosing them separated from the orbiter at about 4 am Beijing time on 15 May. After several hours it entered Mars’s atmosphere at an altitude of 125 kilometers.
When the probe gets closed in on Mars, it released a huge parachute to slow its progress, and then used rocket boosters to brake. Once it reached 100 meters above the Martian surface it hovered and used a laser-guided system to assess the area for obstacles such as boulders before landing. It then took 17 minutes to unfold its solar panels and send a signal back to Earth. China's Tianwen-1 mission is a key part of the country's lofty ambitions for space exploration.
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated the CNSA on the successful landing of China’s first probe on Mars. He said, "You were brave enough for the challenge, pursued excellence, and placed our country in the advanced ranks of planetary exploration. Your outstanding achievement will forever be etched in the memories of the motherland and the people".
Where it landed
It landed in Utopia Planitia, or Nowhere Land Plain, a huge basin a couple of thousand miles wide in the northern hemisphere that was most likely carved out by a meteor impact. The same region was visited by NASA’s Viking 2 lander in 1976.
It is a plain in the northern hemisphere of the planet. The region is mostly flat and smooth but has cratered. Also, the region has Aeolian ridges. Aeolian means wind-sculpted.
About Zhurong robot
Zhurong, which means God of Fire. It is 6 wheel Robot. The mass of Zhurong is about 240 kilograms or roughly 530 pounds. , Zhurong will be powered by solar panels, which are retractable so that it can periodically shake off any accumulated dust.
Zhurong’s seven instruments include cameras, ground-penetrating radar, a magnetic field detector, and a weather station. The robot has a high-resolution topography camera which will help Zhurong to study the planet's surface soil and potentially locate water-ice deposits. It will also help China to analyze the surface material composition.
China’s first Mars exploration mission, the Tianwen-1 probe was launched on a Long March-5 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on July 23, 2020. After the launch, Tianwen entered the Mars orbit in February this year.
China became the first country in 2019 to land a space probe on the little-explored far side of the moon. It also became the first country to return lunar rocks to Earth in December 2020 for the first time since the 1970s. Last week, China has also placed its first module for a planned space station in space orbit.
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