(ORDO NEWS) — The Chinese rover “Zhuzhong” found traces of water erosion of the Martian soil. This was reported on May 11 by CNN.
“Data from the rover’s initial survey of the basin suggests that there was water in the Utopia basin, while many scientists believed Mars was dry and cold,” the channel said.
Photographs of the surface of nearby stones and rocks indicate that they have been exposed to wind and water erosion. It is assumed that the study of these images taken by the rover will help to reveal the water history of the Red Planet.
It is noted that the results of earlier orbital studies did not give such discoveries, in particular, due to the limited coverage of orbital observations with high spatial resolution.
On May 15 last year, China‘s first rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars. NASA Deputy Head Thomas Zurbuchen congratulated China on this event.
He noted that he was looking forward to the important contribution that this mission would make to humanity’s understanding of the Red Planet. In addition, on that day, the Chinese spacecraft Tianwen-1 landed on the planet to study Mars.
Later, on May 22 of the same year, it was reported that the Zhuzhong rover successfully left the platform and began exploring Mars. It was noted that the Zhurong should film the landing site and departure from the landing platform, as well as conduct the necessary visual inspections.
Tianwen-1 was launched on July 23, 2020 using the Long March-5 launch vehicle from the Wenchang Cosmodrome. In fact, an orbital probe, a lander and a rover went to the neighboring planet.
The main goal of the mission is to detect possible signs of life on Mars, as well as to help investigate the issue of future changes in these conditions. This will help scientists understand whether the planet will become habitable for humans.
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