First images from the Chinese rover Zhurong on Mars

First images from the Chinese rover Zhurong on Mars

The Chinese Space Agency has released the first photos taken by their Martian rover Zhurong. The images show parts of the lander and, of course, also of the landscapes of the Red Planet, of which you can deepen the geography with the texts recommended by this link. The Tianwen-1 mission, with which the Chinese rover landed on Mars, arrived at its destination on May 15, making China the second nation to have successfully made a soft landing on the planet, after the United States. One of the photos is a color image taken by the navigation camera mounted on the rear of the rover, and shows Zhurong's solar panels, as well as its deployed antennas and an overview of the landing site.



The other photo disclosed is a black and white image taken by a camera designed to avoid obstacles, installed in the front of the rover. the image was captured using a wide-angle lens, so it not only shows a part of the lander that juts out towards the planet's surface, but also the Martian horizon. Along with the two images, In addition to the two images, Zhurong also sent home a video showing a detachment maneuver between the lander and the orbiter during the landing phase.

Bill Nelson, one of the administrators of the NASA, congratulated the Chinese Space Agency in an official statement in which it hopes, among other things, that the cooperation between remote Martian missions of both countries can ensure that knowledge about the Red Planet is such that the historical date in which a human foot will land on the Martian surface is not so distant.



In the coming days, Zhurong will descend from the lander ramps, to join Curiosity and Perseverance, the NASA modules currently present on the surface of Mars, exploring a region of the planet known as Utopia Planitia, reporting information about the geology and climatic conditions present on site.