Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

China’s Zhurong rover visits its parachute and backshell on Mars

By
China's Zhurong rover visits its parachute and backshell.
China’s Zhurong rover visits its parachute and backshell on July 12. CNSA/PEC

China’s Zhurong rover is exploring the surface of Mars and recently stopped by the site of its parachute and backshell. It snapped the picture above, which was shared by China’s space agency, the China National Space Administration.

The rover visited the site where its backshell and parachute fell during its landing process on May 14. The backshell is the curved piece that protects the rover from the heat generated during landing, and the parachute helps to slow the lander as it passes through the thin atmosphere. Once the lander has slowed and begun to use its retro-propulsors to touch down slowly on the ground, the shell and parachute are no longer necessary. They are jettisoned so that the lander and the rover don’t get tangled in them when the rover is deployed.

Recommended Videos

According to CNSA, the image was snapped about 30 meters away from the backshell, which is around 350 meters away from the rover’s landing site. Zhurong used its navigation terrain camera to capture the image as it was passing by during its exploration to the south of its landing place.

Related

As well as visiting the parachute, Zhurong has been busy exploring the Utopia Planitia area. By July 18, the rover had traveled a total of 509 meters, according to the Chinese state media website Xinhua. It is currently heading toward a second sand dune that it will survey, as well as surveying the surrounding area.

The rover continues to operate well and has now been on the surface of Mars for 63 Martian days (or sols). A Martian day is just a little bit longer than an Earth day. The aim is for the rover to complete a mission lasting 90 Martian days in total.

Zhurong is just one part of the Chinese Mars mission, however. It traveled to the red planet along with the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which is observing the planet from orbit. The orbiter has been in orbit for 359 days, during which time it deployed a small satellite with two cameras called the Tianwen-1 Deployable Camera (TDC). The orbiter is also collecting science data with its Mars Energetic Particle Analyzer instrument.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Space Writer
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
NASA axes its moon rover project VIPER
NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center.

NASA’s VIPER -- short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover -- sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. NASA

NASA has announced it is scrapping its plans to send a rover to the moon. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, project was intended to search the moon's polar regions for water, but will now be shelved due to budget issues. Originally slated to land on the moon in December 2022, the project had been delayed several times, and the most recent update was that it would not be ready until September 2025.

Read more
Mushroom houses: NASA wants to grow its own Mars habitats from fungi
A stool constructed out of mycelia after two weeks of growth. The next step is a baking process process that leads to a clean and functional piece of furniture.

Bricks produced using mycelium, yard waste, and wood chips as a part of the myco-architecture project. Similar materials could be used to build habitats on the Moon or Mars. NASA

When future astronauts set out for the moon or for Mars, they'll need some shelter. And while you might imagine cities on other planets being made of steel, or glass, or some high-tech carbon fiber compound, NASA has other ideas. The agency is funding research into growing their own habitats out of fungi.

Read more
Auroras and radiation from solar storms spotted on Mars
The specks in this scene were caused by charged particles from a solar storm hitting a camera aboard NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. Curiosity uses its navigation cameras to try and capture images of dust devils and wind gusts, like the one seen here.

The specks in this scene were caused by charged particles from a solar storm hitting a camera aboard NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. Curiosity uses its navigation cameras to try and capture images of dust devils and wind gusts, like the one seen here. NASA/JPL-Caltech

The recent solar storms caused epic events here on Earth, where auroras were visible across much of the globe last month. These storms, caused by heightened activity from the sun, don't only affect our planet though -- they also affect Mars. NASA missions like the Curiosity rover have been observing the effects of solar storms there, where the very thin atmosphere creates a potentially dangerous radiation environment. If we ever want to send people to visit the red planet, we're going to need to learn more about this radiation and how it's affected by events like solar storms.

Read more