By 
August 19th, 2021
Credit: CCTV/CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Zhurong Mars rover has been snooping around Utopia Planitia for several months with researchers discussing early findings by the robot.
Due to the Mars solar conjunction, that is expected to impact communication from mid-September to late October 2021, the Tianwen-1 orbiter will remain in a relay communication orbit and continue to relay communications from the Zhurong rover.
China’s Zhurong Mars rover.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Martian atmosphere
“According to our measurement, the Martian atmosphere has a pressure of around 800 pascals. What does 800 pascals suggest? We used to believe that the pressure on Mars was about 1 percent of that on Earth, but our measurement this time says it’s 1/120,” Liu Jianjun, chief designer, ground application system for China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission told China Central Television (CCTV).
“Around noon, the temperature was between minus 20 to minus 10 degrees Celsius,” said Liu. “Another question people might be interested in is that if there is wind on Mars and how hard it blows. We measured the wind speed, which was two to eight meters per second, something we call a breeze. The maximum speed on record was 10 meters a second, so basically a breeze,” he said.
Credit: CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Existence of an ancient ocean?
The 13 scientific devices mounted on Tianwen 1’s orbiter and Zhurong rover have generated more than 420 gigabytes of primary data.
“Hopefully, by providing these data to our scientists, we can get a deeper understanding of the geology of Mars,” Liu said, “and then even see if we can find evidence of the existence of an ancient ocean in the Utopia Planitia, a question that interests many people.”
The rover’s magnetic environment meter mainly measures what the magnetic environment is like on Mars. A surface composition detector basically measures what elements are in the rocks, soil, and dunes on Mars, said Liu.
Go to these newly issued videos from CCTV/China National Space Administration (CNSA) at:
Posted in Space News
