Zhurong (rover)
Chinese rover on Mars / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Zhurong (rover)?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Zhurong (Chinese: 祝融; pinyin: Zhùróng) is a Chinese rover on Mars, the country's first to land on another planet after it previously landed two rovers on the Moon. The rover is part of the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars conducted by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
Zhurong | |
---|---|
祝融 | |
Part of Tianwen-1 | |
Type | Mars rover |
Eponym | Zhurong |
Owner | CNSA |
Manufacturer | China Academy of Space Technology |
Specifications | |
Dimensions | 2.6 m × 3 m × 1.85 m (8 ft 6 in × 9 ft 10 in × 6 ft 1 in) |
Launch mass | 240 kilograms (530 lb) |
Power | Solar arrays |
Rocket | Long March 5 |
Instruments | |
| |
History | |
Launched |
|
Deployed |
|
Location | 25.102°N 109.914°E / 25.102; 109.914 (Zhurong rover)[1] Utopia Planitia, Mars |
Travelled | 1.921 km (1.194 mi) on Mars as of 5 May 2022[update][2] |
The spacecraft was launched on 23 July 2020 and inserted into Martian orbit on 10 February 2021. The lander, carrying the rover, performed a soft-landing on Mars on 14 May 2021,[3] making China the third country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on Mars and the second one to deploy a rover on Mars, after the United States.[4][N 1] Zhurong was deployed on 22 May 2021, 02:40 UTC.[6]
Designed for a lifespan of 90 sols (93 Earth days),[7] Zhurong was active for more than 347 sols (358 days) after its deployment on Mars's surface.[8][9] The rover became inactive on 20 May 2022 due to approaching sandstorms and Martian winter, pending its self-awakening with appropriate temperature and sunlight conditions.[10][11]
Zhurong was expected to wake up in December 2022[12] but never did due to excessive dust accumulation, according to the rover's chief designer.[13]