By 
June 27th, 2021
Credit: CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) released on Sunday new photos and videos captured by China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1 during the country’s first landing and roving exploration on the red planet.
Credit: CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Parachute opening and descending process of the landing rover, the sound of the rover Zhurong leaving the landing platform and its moving process on the Mars’ surface, the perception image of the red planet’s environment, and the ruts of the rover.
Credit: CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“When we were designing, we wanted to obtain some visual states of the rover, which could be used as a basis for further improvement of the project. Then we designed several parts, including the process of opening the parachute, releasing the canopy and descending,” Rao Wei, deputy chief designer of the Tianwan-1 Probe told China Central Television (CCTV).
Credit: CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The Zhurong rover drove down from its landing platform to the Martian surface on May 22.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“According to the telemetry, we can see that the landing point is only three kilometers away from our designed position. In general, the landing position is very accurate and the control system is very good,” said Rao.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Scientific payloads
At present, the rover Zhurong has been working on the red planet’s surface for 42 Martian days, traveling 236 meters in total, and the orbiter and rover are in good working condition.
“At present, we have a total of six scientific payloads on the Mars rover. Now all of them are on and working normally. I also hope that foreign scientists will join us to do research together and to achieve more results,” said Liu Jizhong, deputy commander of China’s first Mars exploration program.
Credit: CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020. The lander carrying the rover touched down in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars, on May 15.
Go to these newly released videos focused on China’s Mars mission at:
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