NASA orbiter shots show the position of the Zhurong rover (circled section) has not changed since September 2022. Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
China’s Mars rover Zhurong has not moved since last September. This was revealed through a picture released by NASA recently.
The spacecraft is solar-powered, so it must go into hibernation when the northern hemisphere of the Red Planet is hit by extreme winter starting May 18, 2022. During winter, the surface temperature of Mars can drop to minus 125 degrees Celsius. A sandstorm also enveloped the planet.
Zhurong is expected to be active again in December, just as the area the rover is exploring enters spring. But from catch The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was published on February 21, has not seen any signs of the roving robot moving since February 7.
The rover’s body appears to be covered in dust, which hinders the performance of solar panels to collect solar energy as an actuator.
In fact, Zhurong’s solar panels are intentionally designed to resemble butterfly wings so they don’t exist pasir which accumulates. The dust will fall as soon as the panel is “flapped”. However, this feature only works when the rover is active.
“Let’s wait until the dry season comes. The surface temperature will rise, and the rover will be able to get sunlight again,” said Yi Xu, associate professor at the Institute of Space Sciences at Macau University of Science and Technology, when contacted by VICE World News. Yi and his fellow researchers routinely monitor Zhurong radar data to study the evolution of the Martian surface.
“Who knows, the rover can operate again once the battery is full,” he added.
So far, the Chinese National Space Agency has not made a public statement whether the Zhurong can still be operated or not. In fact, China has just celebrated two years since its first Mars mission, Tianwen-1, was successfully launched.
that institution explain Last September, the Zhurong would automatically operate once the accumulated energy exceeded 140 watts, and the temperature of its components rose to -50 degrees Celsius. However, according to recent news quoted South China Morning Post earlier this year, the rover never sent a signal to Earth. It appears that Zhurong was covered in dust from the sandstorm.
The successful landing of the Zhurong in May 2021 made China second country which deployed robotic rovers on the surface of Mars after the United States. Zhurong filled his lifetime for three months.
According to local media, the rover has sent nearly 1.5 GB of files containing evidence that Mars once flowed with water. His findings led to the theory that the large basin found in Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars, was once the sea.
Zhurong also studied the composition of the surface, characteristics of the Martian soil, known as regolith, and the underlying layers of rock and ice. Rover radar data that is able to penetrate the ground gives an idea of what it is like crater structure and slopes found in the area.
This rover reportedly disappeared from circulation around October 2021. The team of astronomers could not track Zhurong’s activity because the planet Mars was aligned with the Sun and Earth at that time.
“We are confident that Zhurong will be able to operate properly,” he said Jin Shengyideputy chief designer of the teleoperation subsystem of the Chinese Academy of Space Technology in October 2021. “We have considered all possible possibilities when designing the rover.”
