China recently landed its own rover on the surface of the Red Planet, and in fact, it even just revealed a Mars selfie, one of the coolest Martian pictures ever seen.
NASA is no longer the only space agency that has sent new hardware to the Red Planet and sent photos back. Observers said they've all been staring at images from Mars, which the Perseverance rover sent back, but they described the one China just uploaded as "the coolest."
BGR reported that the Mars 2020 mission of NASA is well underway, with its Perseverance rover starting its science phase and the Ingenuity helicopter accomplishing a lot in just a short period.
Last year, the China National Space Administration also sent its rover to the Red Planet, beating NASA's Perseverance rover in the process.
Zhurong Snapping Awesome Images
Both NASA and China's rovers landed on Mars in February 2021 at around the same time, with Perseverance, as reported by the space agency, immediately landing, and the Zhurong lander and rover orbiting the planet for a while before it made a landing.
Now that the China rover is on the ground, it has been making its mark for mankind, not to mention snapping some awesome images along the way.
The Curiosity rover of NASA, known for being the "king of Mars selfies," has captured a lot of images at this point. So much so that observers have lost count. NASA's Perseverance is off to a strong beginning, although it appears as if it is not the only new challenger to the throne.
What Sets Zhurong Apart
China's Zhurong rover might not be built to last as long as the two NASA rovers Perseverance and Curiosity. Still, it still has some impressive photography up to its sleeves. In fact, the Chinese rover has something that both Perseverance and Curiosity don't have: a wireless camera.
As reported by the China-owned government news agency, Xinhua, the collection of new photos from the Zhurong rover contains one of the most unique images of Mars ever. That is a Mars selfie of Zhurong and the fancy lander sitting next to each other on the Red Planet's surface.
What's making the photo extra special is that it was taken from a distance through the use of a wireless camera that was previously positioned by the rover at a distance.
Wireless Camera
According to the Xinhua report, Zhurong used a separable camera for a selfie shot with the landing platform. The camera, placed at the rover's bottom, was released 10 meters south of the landing platform and captured Zhurong's video footage while the rover was returning to the platform. Then it took the selfie.
The camera used a wireless signal to deliver the photos and videos to the rover, which, in turn, beamed the images back to Earth via the orbiter.
In recent years, China has been making some big steps in space exploration, conquering the Moon's far side with a lunar surface sampling mission and now a Mars mission, all in short order.
The country is bullish as well when it comes to sending human missions to the Red Planet and the Moon. With its track record, there is little doubt it can pull it off.
A related report is shown on VideoFromSpace's YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on Mars in Science Times.
