By 
August 31st, 2021
Credit: CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s Tianwen 1 Mars mission – both the orbiter and Zhurong rover – will suspend operations for about 50 days starting in mid-September.
“During that time, the Earth, Mars and the sun will almost be in a straight line and the distance between Earth and Mars will be farthest,” said Zhang Rongqiao of the China National Space Administration (CNSA). “The Sun’s electromagnetic radiation will greatly affect the communication between the rover, the orbiter and ground control.”
The rover had been operating on the Red Planet for 100 days as of Monday, while the orbiter has been circling Mars since February.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space Screengrab
Data gathering
As of Monday, the six-wheeled solar-powered rover has traveled over 3,490 feet (1,064 meters) across the southern part of the Utopia Planitia. The robot’s scientific payloads have garnered around 10 gigabytes of primary data since its touchdown in mid-May, the CNSA said.
After they resume operation in early November, the rover will continue traveling southward toward an ancient coastal area on Utopia Planitia, a large plain within the largest known impact basin in the solar system.
Topography around the Zhurong Rover, as observed by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona
The orbiter will enter a new Mars orbit to carry out a remote-sensing global survey of the Red Planet and will continue relaying signals between Zhurong and Earth, Zhang said.
The Zhurong rover has outlived its three-month life expectancy with all of its predetermined tasks completed.
Go to this China Central Television (CCTV) News Agency video focused on the rover at:
Posted in Space News
