"China's space program took a major leap today (May 14th) 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."
I can't find any updates on this story nor can I find any pictures released by China showing the rover safely on the ground. I suspect something is up. Maybe it successfully landed but there are problems deploying the rover or the rover is not responding to commands. Thus dead on arrival. This happened to Russia in the 70's. If China has an operational rover on Mars I believe they would've released photos by now. You know for bragging rights and national pride. What we do know for sure is China DID deploy the rover from the orbiter and attempted a landing.
China is for real. They are building their own space station, are the first to land on the dark side of the Moon and exploring the surface with a Moon rover. Now have an orbiter orbiting Mars and a Mars rover on the ground.
Latest news the rover will roll down its ramp in a few days. The orbiter has lowered its altitude so it can better communicate with the rover on the ground and China's central space command.
Poor Rover. I'm sure he is such a nice dog, but I don't think he'll last long on the moon without his Chum. He hasn't even got a space suit, or a proper helmet for a dog's head. Hey China, if you are listening in (we know you are - tee hee), the Russians sent a dog with a monkey's head into space in 1961! That must be about ninety years ago now, so you're away behind the times. The Russians couldn't find a dog head-shaped helmet for Minska either, so they just grafted a chimp's head on and it fitted like a dream, albeit with a bit too much room to spare.
