China’s Zhurong rover makes groundbreaking discovery on Mars

Xi Jinping and Joe Biden (CNN)

Since the dawn of space exploration, rivalry between the world’s great powers has often been a driving force behind scientific and technological progress. Today, this competition extends to the red planet, Marswhere the Chine showed impressive dynamism, closely following the United States. Historically, NASA has been at the forefront of Mars exploration, with iconic missions like Viking 1 and 2 in the 1970s, and more recently, with the Curiosity rover who continues to make crucial discoveries on the red planet. However, China, with its expanding space program, is showing unwavering determination to catch up. The Zhurong rover of the Tianwen-1 mission is a striking example.

According to new research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the rover Zhurong made a groundbreaking discovery when he observed salt-rich dunes in the Utopia Planitia region that showed cracks and crusts, indicating the possible presence of water as recently as a few hundred thousand years. This discovery, which challenges our current understanding of the hydrological history of Mars, clearly shows that China is catching up with the United States in Martian exploration.

The Zhurong rover, which landed on Mars in May 2021, exceeded its expected lifespan of 90 Martian (sol) days, or 93 Earth days, and continued to explore the surface of Mars for nearly a year before landing. go into hibernation. During this time, he traveled 1,921 meters (1.194 miles) on the surface of the red planet. These achievements, along with the recent discovery, testify to China’s growing technical expertise in space exploration.

It should be noted that this competition between China and the United States on Mars is not only a question of national prestige. It also has major scientific implications. Discoveries made by Chinese and American rovers contribute to our overall understanding of Mars and pave the way for future human missions to the Red Planet.

Even though NASA currently has a huge lead in Mars exploration, China’s recent discovery shows that the race to know Mars is far from over. Thus, even on Mars, China is hot on the heels of the United States, promising an exciting and beneficial competition for the advancement of space science.