Luther12
Elder Lister
China has successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars, state media announced early on Saturday.
The six-wheeled Zhurong robot was targeting Utopia Planitia, a vast terrain in the planet's northern hemisphere.
The vehicle used a combination of a protective capsule, a parachute and a rocket platform to make the descent.
The successful touchdown is a remarkable achievement, given the difficult nature of the task.
Only the Americans have really mastered landing on Mars until now. All other countries that have tried have either crashed or lost contact soon after reaching the surface.
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated the mission team's "outstanding achievement" in a special message.
"You were brave enough for the challenge, pursued excellence and placed our country in the advanced ranks of planetary exploration," he said.
Thomas Zurbuchen, the head of science at the US space agency (Nasa), was quick to add his own congratulations.
"Together with the global science community, I look forward to the important contributions this mission will make to humanity's understanding of the Red Planet," he said.
Zhurong, which means God of Fire, was carried to Mars on the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which arrived above the planet in February. The probe then spent time surveying Utopia, taking high-resolution images to pinpoint the safest place to put the rover down.
The aim with all such ventures is to pick a spot that is devoid of imposing craters and where the landscape isn't covered in large boulders.
Chinese engineers would have had to follow the landing effort with a time lag.
The current distance to Mars is 320 million km, which means radio messages take almost 18 minutes to reach Earth.
Every stage of the Zhurong robot's approach to the surface therefore would have been managed autonomously.
www.wsj.com
www.cbsnews.com
The six-wheeled Zhurong robot was targeting Utopia Planitia, a vast terrain in the planet's northern hemisphere.
The vehicle used a combination of a protective capsule, a parachute and a rocket platform to make the descent.
The successful touchdown is a remarkable achievement, given the difficult nature of the task.
Only the Americans have really mastered landing on Mars until now. All other countries that have tried have either crashed or lost contact soon after reaching the surface.
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated the mission team's "outstanding achievement" in a special message.
"You were brave enough for the challenge, pursued excellence and placed our country in the advanced ranks of planetary exploration," he said.
Thomas Zurbuchen, the head of science at the US space agency (Nasa), was quick to add his own congratulations.
"Together with the global science community, I look forward to the important contributions this mission will make to humanity's understanding of the Red Planet," he said.
Zhurong, which means God of Fire, was carried to Mars on the Tianwen-1 orbiter, which arrived above the planet in February. The probe then spent time surveying Utopia, taking high-resolution images to pinpoint the safest place to put the rover down.
The aim with all such ventures is to pick a spot that is devoid of imposing craters and where the landscape isn't covered in large boulders.
Chinese engineers would have had to follow the landing effort with a time lag.
The current distance to Mars is 320 million km, which means radio messages take almost 18 minutes to reach Earth.
Every stage of the Zhurong robot's approach to the surface therefore would have been managed autonomously.
China Lands on Mars in Crowning Moment for Space Program
The success of the Tianwen-1 mission makes China the third nation after the U.S. and Soviet Union to land on the red planet.
www.wsj.com
In major milestone, China successfully lands Zhurong rover on Mars
The Chinese rover joins three NASA spacecraft already on the surface of Mars.
www.cbsnews.com
