The China National Space Administration (CNSA) published the first high-resolution image of the surface of Mars on June 7, sent back by Chinese rover Zhurong.
It was 24 days after Zhurong successfully landed on the red planet, 225 million kilometers from Earth on average.
Zhurong was designed to work on Mars for 92 Earth days. It is expected to send back information on Mars’ geological structure, soil composition and the distribution of ice and water on the surface, and measure the ionosphere and the environment.
Zhurong, which weighs 240 kilos and is 3.3 meters long, 3.2 meters wide and 1.85 meters high, is one half of China’s first Mars probe which was launched in July 2020. The other half is the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which collects and analyzes data from Mars and supports communication with Earth.
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