As of July 23, 2021, China’s Mars rover Zhurong has traveled 585 meters across the surface of Mars. And along the way, it’s taking pictures of interesting sights.
Some of the most intriguing recent images from the rover show debris from the rover’s landing. During its drives, the rover came upon the parachute and backshell. The China National Space Administration says as the rover drove south of its landing site, it first “saw” the debris on the horizon with its front obstacle avoidance camera, and then took a closer image (lead image) with its navigation terrain camera.
CNSA said the rover was about 30 meters away from the parachute and backshell assembly in this image, and about 350 meters away from the landing site.
July 23 marked the first anniversary of the launch of the Tianwen-1 and Zhurong rover mission. The lander carrying the rover touched down on Mars on May 15 of this year, landing in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars.
Here are more images from Zhurong:
It's that time again. NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) has announced six concepts that will…
On Friday, May 3rd, the sixth mission in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (Chang'e-6) launched…
Earth is the only life-supporting planet we know of, so it's tempting to use it…
Multiple space agencies are looking to send crewed missions to the Moon's southern polar region…
Last November, NASA's Lucy mission conducted a flyby of the asteroid Dinkinish, one of the…
Steven Hawking famously calculated that black holes should evaporate, converting into particles and energy over…