One of the long-term hopes of all space exploration countries is to confirm the existence of life on Mars and to determine how suitable it is for human habitation. Some countries have successfully landed their rovers on Mars. China is one of them who achieved its long-term goal.
“Zhurong” is a Mars rover that is China’s first rover to land on another planet which was named after a Chinese god of fire. With this successfully landing China has become the third country to land a spacecraft on a red planet after the US and Russia. Zhurong is part of the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars conducted by the China National Space Administration.
The spacecraft launched on 23 July 2020 from the Wenchang lunch site and inserted into Martian orbit on 10 February 2021. The lander which carried the rover, successfully landed on 14 May 2021 in Utopia Planitia and Zhurong was successfully deployed on 22 May 2021. The lander first utilized a heat enter to the Martian atmosphere, then a huge parachute to descent towards the surface, before eventually landing successfully using a “retro engine”. Tianwen-1 which is still in orbit will now serve as a relay between Zhurong and the Earth.