Chinese scientists scramble to wake Mars rover, plan to send probe to investigate, sources say
- China still waiting for signal from Zhurong, which was supposed to power on after sleeping through red planet’s sandstorm season
- Space authorities are expected to dispatch Tianwen-1 orbiter to check on the solar-powered robot, according to people familiar with the mission
The Post independently confirmed with two sources on Thursday that the rover should have resumed running by now, but no contact has been established.
It’s a wrap for China Mars mission, but rover and orbiter still good to go
However, a Beijing-based source said ground control had encountered difficulty when downloading the latest data from the orbiting probe, which is equipped with two cameras.
Both sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
It was predicted that Zhurong would resume operations around December 26 as the planet’s northern hemisphere entered its spring season and environmental conditions improved.
In May 2021, Zhurong and the Tianwen-1 lander successfully touched down on Mars as part of China’s first independent mission to the red planet, making it the only country besides the US to have accomplished such a feat.
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Zhurong was designed to have a lifespan of three months, but it remained operational for one year and travelled nearly 2km (1.24 miles) to survey the terrain. Using its ground-penetrating radar, scientists found evidence for two major flooding events believed to have occurred millions of years ago.
Zhurong relied completely on solar energy, and its four butterfly-shaped solar panels were designed to resist dust. But the rover might have succumbed to the elements during the planet’s famous sandstorms.
“From a selfie taken days after Zhurong landed in 2021, we can see its solar panels were very clean back then. However, pictures taken the following January already showed the panels coated with a layer of dust,” the Xichang-based source said.
“It’s not hard to imagine that after a harsh sandstorm season, Zhurong is now probably all covered in the reddish Martian dust.”
To make matters worse, solar radiation during the winter also dropped to a low level, further hampering the rover’s power supply, he said.
China’s Tianwen 1 Mars mission wins top international aerospace award
Zhurong completed all the tasks it was expected to do, and the Tianwen-1 Mars mission was declared a success by the China National Space Administration in June 2021.
The Nasa rovers Opportunity and Perseverance are now working on Mars, both of which are equipped with nuclear batteries designed to run for at least 14 years.
