Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter.
Credit: CNSA

It has been a year since China’s Tianwen-1 mission reached the Red Planet consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover.

On May 15, 2021 – now, one year ago – the lander touched down in a pre-selected landing area in Utopia Planitia.

A week later on May 22, 2021, the Mars rover Zhurong wheeled down from its landing platform onto the Martian surface.

Zhurong has continued moving southward from its deployment site.

China’s Zhurong rover.
Credit: CNSA

Rover revelation

China’s Xinhua news agency reports that by Aug 15, 2021, Zhurong had worked on the planet’s surface for 90 Martian days, or about 92 days on Earth, despite reaching its planned working target of 90 days.

In November 2021, Zhurong and the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft performed an in-orbit relay communication test.

Illustration of the scientific payloads mounted on Zhurong rover. The group picture of the rover (left) and the lander (right) was taken by the WiFi camera (Image Credit: the ChinaNational Space Administration (CNSA)). NaTeCam: Navigation and Terrain camera. RoMAG: Mars Rover Magnetometer. MSCam: Multispectral Camera. MSC-1: MarsClimate Station (Wind field and sound probe). MSC-2: Mars Climate Station (Air
temperature and pressure probe). MarSCoDe: Mars Surface Component Detector. RoPeR(CH1): Mars Rover Penetrating Radar (channel 1). RoPeR (CH2): Mars Rover
Penetrating Radar (channel 2).
Credit: Steve Yang Liu, Et al.

In May this year, using data gathered by Zhurong on the landing site, Chinese scientists found new evidence suggesting the presence of liquid water activity and hydrated minerals on Mars.

Meanwhile, by May 5, 2022, the Tianwen-1 orbiter had been operating for 651 days circling Mars. The orbiter and rover continue to operate normally.

Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Future missions

China’s Tianwen-2 mission has entered a preliminary prototype development stage – designed to retrieve samples from near-Earth asteroids.

Zhang Rongqiao, Chief Designer of the Tianwen-1 Mars mission, has said that Tianwen-3’s assignment is a Mars sample return, with Tianwen-4 being a probe to investigate the Jovian system.

To view a video on the mission, go to: 

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