(ORDO NEWS) — Chinese engineers have been trying for several months now to wake the Zhurong rover from sleep mode, which the device went into on May 18, 2022.
At this time, on Mars, in the area of the landing of the rover, winter has just begun with strong sandstorms that do not allow the rover to receive enough solar energy.
New images from NASA‘s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show that the Chinese rover has not moved since at least early September 2022.
The first image was taken on March 11, 2022, the second on September 8, 2022, and the last on February 7, 2023. In the last two images, the rover is in the same location, which does not bode well.
The National Space Administration of China (CNSA) has not yet released any information about Zhurong’s activities.
Perhaps, as Jia Yang, deputy chief designer of the Tianwen-1 expedition, told reporters, the Zhurong will wake up on its own if two conditions are met: the temperature must rise above -15 degrees Celsius, and the energy production must reach more than 140 watts.
Be that as it may, the rover has already completed the main tasks of the expedition anyway and has exceeded the initial three-month service life, having secured a place for itself among the major explorers of Mars.
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