China has managed to put a small robot on Mars

Beijing. – China I managed to successfully appear, this Saturday, in Mars’ surface to the “Zhurong” little robot, This is an unprecedented event for the Asian country, CCTV public television reported.

Landing on the Red Planet is particularly difficult and several European, Soviet and American missions have failed in the past. Reality, China actually tried to send a probe to Mars in 2011. On a joint mission with Russia. However, at that time, the attempt failed and Beijing decided to pursue the adventure alone.

In that spirit, At the end of July 2020, the Chinese launched their unmanned mission called “Tianwen-1”. In the name of the probe sent from Earth to space. It is made up of three components: an orbiting probe (orbiting the star), a landing probe (landing on the surface of Mars), and a remote-guided robot “Zhurong”.

The Tianwen-1 lander has successfully landed in the predetermined area on Mars with the Zhurong robot, CCTV reported that a “signal” had been received on the ground. The landing took place in a region of the Red Planet called “Utopia Planitia”: a vast plain located in the northern hemisphere of Mars.

For China, this is the first independent and ambitious attempt to achieve this, as they hope to achieve what the Americans have done on various Mars missions since the 1960s.

In February, China placed the “Tianwen-1” probe into Mars orbit and took pictures of the red planet. In addition, the spacecraft landed on Mars on Saturday, which will now allow the remote guiding robot “Zhurong” to leave. Significantly Performing these three operations on the first mission to Mars is the first of its kind in the world.

Zorong weighs more than 200 kg. It is equipped with four solar panels to supply it with electricity, which it intends to work on for a period of three months. It is also equipped with cameras, radar and lasers that allow it to study the environment and analyze the composition of Mars rocks.

The name “Zhurong” was chosen after an online survey and refers to the god of fire in Chinese mythology. It is a symbolism justified by the Chinese name for Mars: “Huxing”, literally, “planet of fire.”

France Press agency