China’s Mars probe Zurong: It has not moved since September, and may be covered in dust

China’s Zhurong Mars probe has not moved since at least early September and appears to be heavily covered in dust so far. This is suggested by images of the Mars Orbiter MRO, now released by NASA. The satellite images were taken on March 11, September 8, 2022, and February 7, 2023. In the two most recent images, the device is in the same location, and it also appears to have picked up the color of its surroundings in the latest image. This may be due, among other things, to the solar panels being covered in dust. There is no news from China itself, since December they have been waiting there for the rover to wake up from the sleep mode in which it was in hibernation.

Not enough energy

Zhurong (祝融) is part of China’s Mars mission Tianwen-1, which arrived at the Red Planet two years ago. to the anniversary They mentioned the Chinese media, but did not publish any new information about the country. After months of dormancy, the rover was supposed to wake up in late December, but it didn’t. To wake up requires 140 watts of electricity and a temperature of over -15°C on the hottest components. Since the rover is completely dependent on solar energy, sand on the solar panels can complete the job. Images from the Hirise camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter now indicate that this is what happened. A strong gust of wind can fix this, but it is unclear if Zhurong will ever be able to operate again.

The 240-kilogram Zhurong ( ) landed on May 15, 2021 as China’s first spacecraft on Mars. Previously, only the United States could deploy reconnaissance vehicles to Mars. With a successful landing, China skipped many intermediate steps, with which NASA, for example, came close to successes on Mars: the Tianwen-1 probe, which brought the rover to Mars, is also the first Chinese orbiter around the red planets. Shortly before landing, Zhurong was named after the god of fire in Chinese mythology. The rover has completed all of its originally planned missions a long time ago, so the research mission is considered a success.

(mo)