The Chinese space agency on Friday released several photos taken on Mars, showing the dusty and rocky surface of the red planet and a Chinese rover and descent probe with small national flags.
The four photos distributed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) show the upper reaches of the Zhurong explorer and the explorer’s view before descending from its platform.
Zhurong set up a remote-controlled camera about 10 meters from the landing pad and walked away to have a portrait of the group taken, the agency said.
The Chinese Tianwen-1 spacecraft carrying the rover descended on Mars last month after spending three months in orbit around the planet. China is the second country to place a spacecraft on Mars, after the United States.
The two artifacts bear small Chinese flags and the outlines of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games mascots.
The six-wheeled explorer will scour an area known as Utopia Planitia, mostly looking for traces of water or ice that could give clues as to whether there was ever life on Mars.
Zhurong, 1.85 meters tall, is considerably smaller than the American Perseverance, who explores the planet with a small helicopter. NASA expects its rover to collect a sample in July and return to Earth in 2031.
The ambitious Chinese space program hopes to send its first crews to its new space station next week. The three crew members plan to spend three months at Tianhe (Celestial Harmony) station, in the longest manned mission China has ever carried out. They will conduct spacewalks, construction and maintenance work, and science experiments.
In later missions they will expand the station, carry supplies and change crews. China has also collected and brought lunar samples to Earth and has a rover on the far side of the Moon.
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