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China Mars Rover Zhu Rong Has Successfully Landed

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China has become the third country in the world to safely land a rover on Mars. The United States and the former Soviet Union were the first two countries to land rovers and Mars mission.

“The scientific research team confirmed via the telemetry signal sent by the Zhu Rong Mars rover that on May 15, the Tianwen-1 Lander successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area in the Utopia Plain of southern Mars,” CNSA said.

Zhu Rong is part of China’s first Mars probe, Tianwen-1, which was launched in July 2020 with three parts – orbiter, lander and rover. The probe reached Mars and started orbiting in February.

Protected by a heat shield, China’s Mars landing craft carrying the rover had to detach itself from the orbiter 70km above the surface, before hurtling towards the surface at a speed of nearly 5km per second.

SOURCES- CNSA, SCMP, Reuters
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

36 thoughts on “China Mars Rover Zhu Rong Has Successfully Landed”

  1. 3 of the 4 articles cited are overseas publications. And the other is from an Appalachian publication, which is a step below Jeremy Corbin in popularity…

    There is no outcry against private space flight in the US. 90% of the US supports it. NASA may be a different story, but even then, I see no serious threat to its existence on the horizon.

  3. Ah. My fault. Wasn't thinking of that.

    And I actually HAD tried to come up with a no place joke myself, and then forgot about it.

  4. Well, any self data is an indicator, but yes, the Soviet rover did not collect Mars data so is not considered a successful rover. I was referring to the *utopian* nature of the landing site.

  6. People who are anti-space: (Just google "space program waste of money"). These are just from the first page of results.

    https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/commentary-stop-wasting-money-in-space/article_b10edd44-a178-11e9-8d36-07c35e2a8dfc.html

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/07/elon-musk-spacex-launch-utterly-depressing

    https://theappalachianonline.com/opinion-spending-on-space-is-wasteful/

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-19/should-space-travel-be-a-priority-in-an-era-of-climate-change/11610908

  7. The mild form is the "solve Earth problems first" stand, then those who are so caught up in the *small world* solutions they propose that an out of this world solution, Space Solar for example, or Space Settlements longer term, are fought on instinct. Worst are the pure power addicts, who cannot allow people to escape their territory, their control. Then, you add the quite understandable planet chauvinism, and you get us where we are along O'Neill's plans, over 40 years slow, but finally happening.

  12. naught sees worked by having control of *private* stuff, commies by running all details. No diff. Anti Space Americans, aka *small world* are a different kind of power addicts, altho dangerous because the premise makes some sense, if you don't understand O'Neill. It is not as obviously sicko power trip. You may see Space Solar for military bases quicker than some think, only 5 decades after we should have started.

  13. But the very people who would not support private space launch are, almost by definition, exactly those people who would not see this as an advance. At least not until undeniable milestones like market affecting levels of asteroid mining occur.

  16. Power addiction is based upon childhood powerlessness and fear. It can be cured. It is a vast self humiliation, too.

  17. Totalitarians will have to abandon living in free Space or change their mental health status.

  20. no, not yet

    Unlike NASA, who have the courage to show their results live, even without knowing in advance whether they'll be successful, the CCP are instead too scared to show anything unless they know it has achieved success. So pictures and video will probably come out in the days and weeks ahead. However, I think they should adopt more courageous policies like NASA.

  22. SpaceX's main source of income is launching payloads into space, but in a year or so that will change, and Starlink will be it's main source of revenue. Of course winning 3 billion from NASA a month back doesn't hurt things either.

  23. Besides of creating an epic drama, that would put some pressure in American space policy.

    Right now the politicians controlling NASA's budget don't take the threat of Chinese growth into space very seriously. The Chinese claiming territories on the Moon would change their minds immediately.

    Curiously, that is not an uncommon scenario in near/mid-term science fiction.

    Alastair Reynolds depicted that in "Blue Remembered Earth", and Stephen Baxter did the same in "Proxima".

  27. Well, Europe has a big overarching space agency, ESA. So arguably, NASA is 1st, ESA is 2nd, and CSNA is 3rd

  28. USSR like you said wasn't successfull and they don't count Europe as country yet, so China is 2nd I guess

  29. Probably they meant 3rd country to put a lander on Mars. USA and Europe have done it. I don't think USSR was successful in this.

  30. Musk is being funded by Silicon Valley, and doesn't have to be hostage to US govt. If anything, US govt likes to fund a variety of choices, and not be dependent upon one provider.

  31. Congrats to Chinese, not an easy thing to do and they did it on first try.

    IMO it is a good thing, because it will push others to work harder and we will see faster development in space tech – because of the rivalry and competition.

  32. US has left China in the dust on space. The fact that Americans have graduated to private sector space launchers & missions is a quantum leap.

  33. "China has become the third country in the world to safely land a rover on Mars"

    I think this is a small mistake, various sources are saying that China has become 2nd country to land rover on Mars.

    For example these 2, one American and one Chinese
    https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/china-becomes-only-second-nation-history-land-rover-mars-n1267410

    https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-05-15/China-becomes-second-country-in-history-to-land-probe-on-Mars-10i72plktkA/index.html

  34. After feat like that from China I am quite sure that Starship development program doesn't need to worry about potential money issues, US gov will be throwing various grants, contracts, research grants as long as Starship will become a reality. And after that…bigger, more ambitious next generation spaceships

  35. Congrats to the Chinese. It's for humanity's sake to have more nations going and thriving there.

    In space, the more the merrier.

  36. China space expeditions woke up the US
    from a long slumber. Following the demise of the USSR and the budget
    constraint faced by its successor Russia, US pretty much sat on its
    laurel and basked in its past lunar glory. Finally we see Chinese
    competition spurring the US into action. While it’s good to have the
    three space nations working together for the good of mankind, history
    has shown that competition is the best way to spurs innovation and
    efforts. It seems like a lifetime ago that man landed on the moon. Let's
    hope we do not have to wait another lifetime we see the first man
    landing on Mars.  Regardless of nationalities, it will be a triumph for
    humanity

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