China’s Mars Rover Zhurong Beams Back a Selfie
Solar panel “wings” spread out and two camera “eyes” pointing ahead, China’s Mars rover Zhurong struck a birdlike pose as it explored the red planet in photos released by the country’s space agency Friday.
Zhurong’s touchdown in May was the first ever successful probe landing by any country on its first Mars mission — a milestone in China’s ascent to space superpower status.
The rover, named after a mythical Chinese fire god, has since been studying the topography of a vast Martian lava plain known as the Utopia Planitia.
Photos published by the China National Space Administration showed tracks in the red soil left by Zhurong, which the agency described as “China’s imprint”, after it drove onto the planet’s surface form a landing platform adorned with a large Chinese flag.
The six-wheeled, solar-powered, 240-kilogramme (530-pound) Zhurong is expected to spend three months taking photos, harvesting geographical data, and collecting rock samples.
The space agency said on Friday that the Mars mission’s “engineering tasks were carried out smoothly as planned,” and that the equipment were currently “in good condition.”
