Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona

That super-powerful camera — HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) – aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has snagged new imagery of the Chinese Zhurong rover.

This cutout highlights the rover and the rover’s path (with contrast enhanced to better reveal the tracks). Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona

This HiRISE image, acquired March 11, 2022, shows how far the rover has traveled in the 10 months since it landed in May 2021.

MRO’s altitude above Mars when the imagery was taken: 179.3 miles (288.5 kilometers).

“In fact, its exact path can be traced from the wheel tracks left on the surface. It has traveled south for roughly 1.5 kilometers (about 1 mile),” notes HiRISE principal investigator, Alfred McEwen at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

China’s Zhurong Rover.
Credit: CNSA/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona

Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona

Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona

Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona

On patrol – NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Credit: NASA/JPL