China's successful Mars mission, at approximately the same time, that NASA had its new rover launched, was a successful touchdown with a lander and rover last weekend.
A BGR report said, the Perseverance rover of NASA may be "taking the lion's share of the science headlines" this year although it is about to have some solid competition.
This Mars mission is historic for China, which has been attempting to catch up on the likes of the United States and Russia in the new race in space.
China's Successful Mars Mission launched from this planet before NASA's Perseverance mission and landed on the Red Planet at around the same time.
Zhurong Rover, to Examine Interesting Rock Formations
Instead of immediately landing on the Martian surface, as NASA's Perseverance did, China opted to start things with an orbiter before releasing a lander and rover to the surface.
Now, since the rover is, according to this space report, is roving, the public can now anticipate hearing more about the robot identified as Zhurong, in the months ahead.
Zhurong is not a well-equipped rover like Perseverance, although this first Mars rover of NASA also was not anywhere near as complex as is new models, therefore, that is completely understandable.
In addition, the Chinese rover will explore the site where it landed and examine the material that covers the surface.
Zhurong, in concert with the orbiter and lander, will examine interesting rock formations and perform scientific efforts until they cannot function anymore.
Unlike the Perseverance of NASA, which is designed to last for years in the harsh environment of the Red Planet, the Zhurong rover is only designed to last roughly around three months.
That's a lot of time to make some explorations and provide the China National Space Administration, a good idea of what it should send to Mars in the future, but it is possible too, that Zhurong will last a great deal longer than it has been originally designed to.
Sending Humans to Mars
The Opportunity rover of NASA famously lasted over 10 years on Mars despite an expected lifespan of less than one year.
Zhurong would need to get pretty fortunate to pull something like that off, although assuming the engineers of China are on top of their game, it is possible that the public will be hearing about this rover for a longer than just the next three months or 90 days.
As substantial as China's successful Mars mission is, it is certainly just one step toward the larger plan of China. The country desperately wants to be a top player, a major one, in what is frequently called the "new space race," alongside the US and Russia, as well as groups like the EU, currently working on technologies to send humans to the Red Planet.
At this point, this report said, it is impossible to find out who's leading the race, particularly when so much stays unknown about the probable risks of sending humans such a far distance.
The earliest manned Mars missions will possibly be orbital only. This means that they will not actually land on the Red Planet, although even those missions are posing extreme risks for the crew.
There's be a need to see how things are panning out, although with China now remotely exploring Mars, it is clear that this country is a major force in the exploration of Mars.
The related report is shown on the Wall Street Journal's YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on Mars on Science Times.
