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China's space programme
ChinaScience

Touchdown for China’s Mars rover Zhu Rong after ‘nine minutes of terror’

  • Landing a rover on Mars involves a communications blackout period during which it must land without human intervention
  • Only half of all attempts to land on the red planet have succeeded because of its challenging atmosphere

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An artist’s impression of the Zhu Rong Mars rover, which landed on the red planet on Saturday. Photo: Weibo
William ZhengandEduardo Baptista

After seven months of space travel, three months in orbit and “nine minutes of terror”, China has become the third country in the world to safely land a rover on Mars.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said its rover Zhu Rong – named after the Chinese mythical god of fire and war – had successfully landed on Mars on Saturday after “nine minutes of terror”, referring to Nasa’s description of the time when engineers on Earth have no control or oversight of the rover because of a radio signal delay.

“The scientific research team confirmed via the telemetry signal sent by the Zhu Rong Mars rover that on May 15, the Tianwen-1 Lander successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area in the Utopia Plain of southern Mars,” CNSA said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a written congratulatory message that the mission was an important step in China’s space exploration. Scientists should continue their exploration of Mars and accelerate China’s development as a space power.

The milestone was also celebrated at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, with two research teams from the university contributing to the mission.

University president Teng Jin-guang said the two teams played a vital role in mapping and assessing landing sites.

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China Mars rover Zhu Rong successfully lands on red planet

China Mars rover Zhu Rong successfully lands on red planet
Zhu Rong’s landing comes as China races to catch up with the United States in space technology. In recent years, China has launched the world’s first quantum satellite, made a soft landing on the far side of the moon and brought lunar samples back using a purely robotic mission. It has also started building its own space station.
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