This article was initially printed at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Sara Webb, PhD candidate in Astrophysics, Swinburne University of Technology
Rebecca Allen, Swinburne Space Office Project Coordinator | Manager Swinburne Astronomy Productions, Swinburne University of Technology
China’s Zhurong rover landed safely on Mars on May 15, making China solely the third nation to efficiently land a rover on the crimson planet.
More impressively nonetheless, China is the primary Mars-going nation to hold out an orbiting, touchdown and rovering operation as its first mission.
Planetary scientist Roberto Orosei told Nature China is “doing in a single go what NASA took decades to do,” whereas astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell described China’s choice to incorporate a rover in its maiden Mars outing as a “very gutsy move.”
Related: Hear the 1st sounds from China’s Mars rover Zhurong and watch it drive in new video
Congratulations to CNSA’s #Tianwen1 workforce for the profitable touchdown of China’s first Mars exploration rover, #Zhurong! Together with the worldwide science neighborhood, I sit up for the necessary contributions this mission will make to humanity’s understanding of the Red Planet. pic.twitter.com/KexElIu8OHMay 15, 2021
Where did it land?
Zhurong, named after the god of fireside in Chinese mythology, separated from the Tianwen-1 orbiter and touched down near the positioning of earlier NASA missions, on an unlimited plain known as Utopia Planitia.
This space of Mars was shaped billions of years in the past, when a martian meteorite smashed into the planet’s floor. The surrounding space is essentially featureless, lined largely in volcanic materials.
Zhurong isn’t the primary rover to discover this area. In 1976, NASA’s Viking 2 lander touched down additional north inside the Utopia Planitia basin, returning high-resolution pictures of the martian floor and analyzing soil samples.
The Viking 2 lander lacked the flexibility to analyze any additional than its preliminary touchdown website. But the Zhurong rover must be properly outfitted to roam farther afield throughout its mission.
What will it do?
The mission’s three-month scientific program will start as soon as the Zhurong rover disembarks from the touchdown craft and begins its journey throughout the martian floor. The 240-kilogram, six-wheeled rover is provided with six particular person scientific devices, and has 4 massive solar panels, giving it the looks of a “blue butterfly.”
Zhurong’s design, devices and expertise on board Zhurong are akin to these on board NASA’s twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which touched down in January 2004. Although Zhurong isn’t on the slicing fringe of present space exploration expertise, the sheer pace of this program’s growth since its initiation in 2006 is awe-inspiring.
Like the numerous Mars rovers earlier than it, Zhurong will probe this alien planet’s surroundings, and seek for indicators of water ice on the floor.
The mission is anticipated to survey 4 features of its native surroundings:
- topography and geological construction
- soil construction and attainable presence of water ice
- chemical composition, minerals and rock sorts
- bodily traits of the environment and the rocky floor.
Zhurong will thus assist construct a extra full geological image of the Red Planet’s historical past. And, in a real first for Martian exploration, it’s outfitted with a magnetometer to measure the planet’s magnetic discipline. This is a vital research that can assist deal with why Mars has misplaced a lot of its environment, leaving its panorama so barren.
China’s rising space presence
The Tianwen-1 mission is only one of a formidable checklist of accomplishments by the China National Space Administration previously yr. Its different feats embrace launching dozens of Long March rockets, every with a number of payloads, together with that of the Chang’e 5 lunar probe, which introduced moon rocks again to Earth for the primary time for the reason that finish of NASA’s Apollo program within the Seventies.
Last month, China launched the primary stage of its Tiangong space station, which subsequent yr is about to develop into the world’s second long-term residence for people in space. The momentous launch did not go off with out a hitch, nevertheless, as particles from the launch automobile made an uncontrolled re-entry again to Earth, ultimately splashing down within the Indian Ocean.
Thankfully nobody was damage in that incident, however it’s a well timed reminder that China’s accelerating tempo of space missions and rocket launches should be fastidiously managed.
This yr of exercise has solidified China’s highly effective presence in space, and we’re solely seeing the start of its formidable future. By 2045, China hopes to develop into a number one space energy, as outlined within the 2018 Aerospace Science and Technology Corporations route map.
In the approaching years we are able to sit up for seeing China launch crewed missions to the Tiangong space station, and within the coming many years can anticipate to see China be part of different spacefaring nations in missions again to the moon and Mars.
This article is republished from The Conversation below a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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