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BEIJING – Chinese rover Zhurong Mars continues its initial program of exploring the Red Planet and finding frozen water that could provide clues as to whether it once supported life.
China’s National Space Administration said on its website on Friday that Zhurong completed its 90-day program on August 15 and was in excellent technical condition and fully loaded.
He said he would continue to explore the area known as Utopia Planitia where he landed on May 14. Zhurong constantly sent back photos and data via the Tianwen-1 orbiter which passes through it once a day.
After the United States, China is the second country to land and sustainably operate a spacecraft on Mars, where days are 40 minutes longer than on Earth.
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At 1.85 meters (6 feet) tall, Zhurong is significantly smaller than the American rover Perseverance, which explores the planet with a small helicopter. NASA expects its rover to take its first sample in July for a return to Earth as early as 2031.
Meanwhile, China is assembling its permanent space station, with three astronauts now aboard the Tianhe Core, or Heavenly Harmony, which was put into orbit on April 29. Two of the astronauts completed their second spacewalk on Friday. All three are expected to return to Earth in September and be replaced by a new crew.
China had previously launched two small experimental space stations. He was ruled out of the International Space Station largely at the insistence of the United States, which is wary of the secrecy of China’s space program and close military ties. Congressional approval is also required for any cooperation between NASA and CNSA.
China also recently brought back lunar samples, the first from a country’s space program since the 1970s, and landed a probe and rover on the less explored far side of the moon.
China first put an astronaut into orbit in 2003, becoming the third country to do so.
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