China's Zhurong Mars rover touches down on the red planet | National Geographic China's Mars landing platform and Zhurong rover are seen in an illustration released in 2016 by the Chinese State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. The rover is named after the god of fire in ancient Chinese mythology, which echoes the Chinese name of the red planet, Huoxing, meaning the planet of fire. Illustration by Xinhua via Getty Images SCIENCE NEWS China's Mars rover touches down on the red planet After a historic landing on Mars, the Zhurong rover is ready to search for signs of water and life. By Andrew Jones Last updated May 15, 2021 • 8 min read China's space program took a major leap today when it successfully landed the Zhurong rover on Mars,   marking the country’s first landing on another planet. Teams will now prepare to roll the rover off its landing platform and onto the dusty Martian surface to begin a mission to search for evidence of water and hints of past life. The touchdown makes China the second country in history to deposit a rover on the surface of Mars. After months in orbit around the red planet , the Tianwen-1 spacecraft released the Zhurong rover for a landing in Utopia Planitia, a vast plain that may once have been covered by an ancient Martian ocean. The 529-pound rover survived a perilous descent to the surface, including atmospheric entry, slowing from supersonic speeds with a parachute, and finally using retrorockets to safely alight on the ground. Named for an ancient Chinese fire god, the 529-pound Zhurong rover is similar in size to NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which landed on the red planet in 2004 and sent back exciting images and data about the planet’s surface conditions. China’s rover could make additional important discoveries concerning water and past habitability on the planet, paving the way for future human missions to Mars. “Landing safely on Mars is a huge challenge, especially fo By Andrew Jones Last updated May 15, 2021 • 8 min read China's space program took a major leap today when it successfully landed the Zhurong rover on Mars,   marking the country’s first landing on another planet. Teams will now prepare to roll the rover off its landing platform and onto the dusty Martian surface to begin a mission to search for evidence of water and hints of past life. The touchdown makes China the second country in history to deposit a rover on the surface of Mars. After months in orbit around the red planet , the Tianwen-1 spacecraft released the Zhurong rover for a landing in Utopia Planitia, a vast plain that may once have been covered by an ancient Martian ocean. The Zhurong rover made it through the so-called “seven minutes of terror,” the time from atmospheric entry to landing on the surface. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) could only watch the autonomous landing unfold from nearly 200 million miles away—so far away that it takes 18 minutes to receive a signal from Mars—and hope everything went to plan. Zhurong sat attached to its orbiter companion, encased in an aeroshell designed to protect the vehicle on its way through the Martian atmosphere. After it was released and endured a fiery atmospheric entry, a huge parachute deployed to further slow the rover’s descent. As well, the rocket engines on Zhurong are similar to those China used to safely land three spacecraft on the moon. Those technologies, along with the supersonic parachutes China has used to return astronauts from Earth orbit in space capsules, set up CNSA to pull off a Martian touchdown. A new rover on Mars Once Zhurong’s six wheels roll off the landing platform and onto the Martian dust, the rover will expand its foldable, butterfly-like solar panels and explore the area for a primary mission lasting three months. Zhurong’s ground-penetrating radar will ping the surface with two different frequencies and pick up echo data from layers below, peering down to 33 feet to search for ices or briny waters underground. “Tianwen-1 is likely to be able to explore and detect any subsurface snow and ice using its payload,” Head says. Such pockets of ice could prove valuable for future crewed missions, and any pockets of water or brine, shielded from radiation on the surface, may provide habitats for simple lifeforms. The next chapter of Chinese space exploration China will openly share the data from Tianwen-1 and Zhurong the same way it has shared data from its lunar exploration missions, Long says, benefiting planetary scientists around the world. The mission will also set the stage for China’s next planned voyage to Mars—an audacious sample-return attempt scheduled to launch around 2028. Beyond Mars, the country has plans to launch a Jupiter probe, including a possible landing on the moon Callisto , to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid , and to send a pair of Voyager-like spacecraft toward the edges of the solar system . Tianwen-1 and Zhurong, he says, are ”of great significance for studying the unknown universe, stimulating the scientific enthusiasm of young people, stimulating the creativity of the whole country, enhancing the ability to explore the unknown, and expanding the living space of humanity.” Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the successful landing of China’s Zhurong rover on Mars. Also, the image of China's Chang'e-3 lander and rover has been cropped to remove a background image of Earth, which was not in the original mission photos. 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This research delves into the three-dimensional (3D) morphological characteristics of Martian rocks, utilizing high-resolution images captured by the NaTeCam of China's Zhurong rover and a novel 3D rock extraction approach. The morphological analysis encompasses a detailed examination of 6,185 cm-scale rocks, highlighting the prevalence of small rocks (length < 10 cm, width < 8 cm, height < 2 cm) that constitute approximately 75% of the total rock population in the study areas. This finding underscores the significance of small-scale features in the Martian landscape and suggests that these rocks may play a substantial role in the planet's surface dynamics.A key discovery is the influence of landscape type on the distribution of rocks. The research indicates that the number of rocks varies with different landscape types, such as flat terrains, sand dunes, and crater complexes. However, the proportions of rocks of different sizes remain consistent across these varied landscapes, suggesting a uniformity in the rock size distribution that is independent of the specific geomorphological setting. Comparative morphological analyses reveal distinct differences between sedimentary rocks and float rocks. The size-frequency distribution around craters is notably different from other areas, indicating that the geological processes around craters may lead to a unique rock distribution pattern. This finding is crucial for understanding the impact of crater formation on the local geology and the subsequent redistribution of rocks.Furthermore, the study compares the morphological features of rocks from the Zhurong landing area with those from the Bonneville crater ejecta, as documented by the Spirit rover. The analysis shows similarities in 2D compactness between the outcrop rocks of Zhurong and the Bonneville crater ejecta rocks, suggesting a commonality in the horizontal morphological characteristics. In contrast, the Bonneville crater ejecta rocks exhibit a more divers Abstract EGU25-5847 Close 1){window.history.go(-1);}return false;">[Back] [Session PS1.5] EGU25-5847, updated on 14 Mar 2025 https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-5847 EGU General Assembly 2025 © Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Three-dimensional Morphological Analysis of Martian Rocks Using Zhurong Rover NaTeCam Images Yuan Li , Wuming Zhang, Zhouxuan Xiao, Chaohua Ma, and Linzhou Zeng Yuan Li et al. Yuan Li , Wuming Zhang, Zhouxuan Xiao, Chaohua Ma, and Linzhou Zeng Sun Yat-Sen University, School of Geospatial Engineering and Science, China (liyuan.eowyn@gmail.com) Sun Yat-Sen University, School of Geospatial Engineering and Science, China (liyuan.eowyn@gmail.com) Hide This research delves into the three-dimensional (3D) morphological characteristics of Martian rocks, utilizing high-resolution images captured by the NaTeCam of China's Zhurong rover and a novel 3D rock extraction approach. Furthermore, the study compares the morphological features of rocks from the Zhurong landing area with those from the Bonneville crater ejecta, as documented by the Spirit rover. The analysis shows similarities in 2D compactness between the outcrop rocks of Zhurong and the Bonneville crater ejecta rocks, suggesting a commonality in the horizontal morphological characteristics. In contrast, the Bonneville crater ejecta rocks exhibit a more diverse sphericity distribution, implying a greater variety in their three-dimensional shapes. This diversity in sphericity may reflect different formation processes or subsequent erosional histories. The analysis of cm-scale rocks, in particular, reveals the complexity and diversity of the Martian landscape, highlighting the importance of small-scale features in the overall geological picture. These results are expected to inform future Martian exploration missions and enhance our understanding of the planet's geological evolution. How to cite: Li, Y., Zhang, W., Xiao, Z., Ma, C., and Zeng, L.: Three-dimensional Morphological Analysis of Martian Rocks Using Zhurong Rover NaTeCam Images, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-5847, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-5847, 2025.

The Chinese rover identified hydrated minerals—likely associated with groundwater—in sediments dating to the Red Planet’s most recent geologic period.