Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
Zhurong, a Chinese-owned cruiser, successfully landed on Mars on Saturday (15/5) morning, state media said, a victory for Beijing’s space ambitions and a historic achievement for a country on its first Mars mission.
Zhurong completed a treacherous landing through the Martian atmosphere using a parachute to navigate the “seven minutes of terror,” aiming for the vast northern lava plain known as Utopia Planitia.
The mission “successfully landed in a pre-selected area”, broadcaster CCTV said, while the official Xinhua news agency quoted China’s National Space Agency (CNSA) as confirming the landing.
This moment made China the first country to conduct orbiting, landing and exploration operations during its first mission to Mars – a feat unmatched by two other countries that have previously reached the Red Planet: the US and Russia.
Zhurong, named after the mythical Chinese god of fire, arrives months behind America’s latest exploration mission to Mars – Perseverance – which is a show of technological power between two superpowers outside Earth’s atmosphere.
Six-wheeled, solar powered and weighing about 240 kilograms, the Chinese rover is on a quest to collect and analyze rock samples from the surface of Mars.
Zhurong is expected to spend about three months there.
The launch of China’s Tianwen-1 Mars spacecraft carrying the rover last July marked a significant milestone in China’s space program.
The spacecraft entered Mars orbit in February and after days of silence, state media announced it had reached an “important landing stage” on Friday.
The complex landing process is called the “seven minutes of terror” because it occurs faster than radio signals can reach Earth from Mars, meaning communication is limited.
Several US, Russian and European attempts to land the rover on Mars have failed in the past, most recently in 2016 with the joint Russian-European Schiaparelli spacecraft landing.
The successful landing took place in February, when US space agency NASA landed the Perseverance rover, which has been exploring Mars since.
US explorers launch a small robotic helicopter on Mars which is the first powered flight on another planet.
China has come a long way in a race to catch up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of experience in space exploration.
China successfully launched the first module of its new space station last month in hopes of being manned by 2022 and eventually sending humans to the Moon.
Last week, segments of China’s Long March 5B rocket crashed over the Indian Ocean in an uncontrolled return to Earth.
It has drawn criticism from the United States and other countries for violating the etiquette governing the return of space debris to Earth, with officials saying the remains have the potential to endanger life and property.
(AFP / ard)
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