China’s Zhurong Mars rover stays silent regardless of being anticipated to get up in December — however there’s nonetheless hope that the automobile might rise from its slumber.
Zhurong is a part of Tianwen 1, China’s first interplanetary mission, which additionally features a Mars orbiter. The rover touched down on the Crimson Planet’s Utopia Planitia again in Might 2021 and carried out a spread of science and exploration actions earlier than getting into a dormant state in Might 2022 to attend out the chilly, harsh winter within the northern hemisphere of Mars.
Zhurong was anticipated to get up in December, across the time of the Mars spring equinox. To this point, nonetheless, there was silence from each the rover and its operators in China, with reports that the spacecraft may very well be in hassle.
Associated: China’s 1st Mars rover and Tianwen 1 orbiter may have gone silent
But hope stays that Zhurong is just experiencing colder than anticipated situations and should wake itself up and resume actions.
Jia Yang, a Tianwen 1 mission deputy chief designer, told (opens in new tab) reporters in September 2022 that Zhurong would get up autonomously when two situations are met. These are a temperature of higher than 5 levels Fahrenheit (minus 15 levels Celsius) and vitality era of higher than 140 watts.
Weather data from NASA’s Perseverance rover — which is nuclear-powered and has not wanted to hibernate — reveals that temperatures in Mars’ Jezero Crater have solely briefly risen larger than this lowest warmth requirement. Perseverance can also be some seven levels latitude south of Zhurong and thus nearer to the Martian equator, that means it might even be experiencing barely extra favorable situations than China’s rover.
The opposite issue affecting Zhurong is that dust storms might have deposited Martian sand onto Zhurong’s solar arrays, hindering its means to generate energy and wake itself up. The rover’s butterfly-shaped solar panels use anti-dust materials, and Zhurong is provided with a vibrating operate to shake off gathered dust. Nonetheless, the rover will should be energetic to make use of this latter measure.
Time will inform if Zhurong will roll alongside the Martian floor as soon as extra, however the mission has already been an enormous success. The touchdown made China the second nation to efficiently function a rover on Mars after the U.S., and each Zhurong and the Tianwen 1 orbiter have completed their primary missions.
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