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Anticipation builds for Zhu Rong Mars rover landing, another step towards China’s space ambitions
- Tianwen-1 probe reported in ‘crucial touchdown stage’, prepares to land rover in Utopia Planitia plain on red planet
- Speculation about landing fires up after space-flight expert predicts rover will land Saturday morning, Beijing time
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Anticipation mounted on Friday for the landing on Mars of China’s Zhu Rong rover, a few months behind America’s latest probe to the red planet, as Beijing presses ahead with its increasingly bold space ambitions.
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The launch of China’s Mars Tianwen-1 probe last July marked a major milestone in its space programme, which Beijing views as a sign of its rising global stature and technological might.
The spacecraft, which entered Mars’ orbit in February, has now reached “crucial touchdown stage” as it prepares to land its rover in a vast northern lava plain known as the Utopia Planitia, the state-run tabloid Global Times said on Friday.
Chinese officials have been tight-lipped on the timing of the touchdown but the landing window of mid-May to mid-June has opened, according to China National Space Administration (CNSA).
Speculation about a Saturday landing has been rife on social media after a top space-flight expert estimated the rover – named after a mythological Chinese fire god – would reach the surface in the morning Beijing time.
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