China has released the first photographs captured by its rover, Zhurong, on Planet Mars.
The front view shows the landscape in front of the robot while on the landing platform; The back photo reveals Zhurong’s solar panels.
The Chinese rover landed on the Red Planet – as Mars is known – on Sunday morning, Beijing time.
With this landing, China became the second country – after the United States – to successfully land its vehicle on the surface of Mars and operate it for a significant period of time for research purposes.
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CNSAChinese scientists hope the six-wheeled robot can observe 90 days of Mars time at the landing site on the Utopia Planitia, a large area in the planet’s northern hemisphere.
Zhurong closely resembles the US Space Agency’s (NASA) space probe Spirit and Opportunity from the 2000s. It weighs about 240kg and is powered by a folding solar panel.
On the Chinese-owned vehicle, there is a tall pole that carries a camera to take pictures and assist with navigation; Five additional instruments will investigate the mineralogy of rocks and the general nature of the environment, including weather.
Like today’s American explorers (Curiosity and Perseverance), Zhurong had a laser device for moving rocks to assess chemical elements and a radar device for looking for water-ice below the surface.
Utopia Planitia is where NASA landed the Viking-2 mission in 1976.
This is a colossal basin – more than 3,000km wide – that was formed by an impact early in the history of Mars.
There is some evidence to suggest that the vast plains were once covered by oceans in the past.
Remote sensing by satellites indicates significant ice deposits at depth.
BBC 
CNSA The United States previously landed its newest rover, Perseverance, in February.
Europe, which has had two failed attempts at landing, will send a rover to Mars next year (in a joint project with Russia).
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