Categories: ChinaMars

Zhurong Finds its Own Parachute on the Surface of Mars

Image of parachute and back cover for the Zhurong rover on Mars. Credit: China National Space Administration.

As of July 23, 2021, China’s Mars rover Zhurong has traveled 585 meters across the surface of Mars. And along the way, it’s taking pictures of interesting sights.

Some of the most intriguing recent images from the rover show debris from the rover’s landing. During its drives, the rover came upon the parachute and backshell. The China National Space Administration says as the rover drove south of its landing site, it first “saw” the debris on the horizon with its front obstacle avoidance camera, and then took a closer image (lead image) with its navigation terrain camera.

CNSA said the rover was about 30 meters away from the parachute and backshell assembly in this image, and about 350 meters away from the landing site.

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Zhruong’s front obstacle avoidance camera took this image of the backshell in the distance. Credit: CNSA.

July 23 marked the first anniversary of the launch of the Tianwen-1 and Zhurong rover mission. The lander carrying the rover touched down on Mars on May 15 of this year, landing in the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars.

Here are more images from Zhurong:

Image from the rear obstacle avoidance camera looking back at the rover’s path past the backshell and parachute. Credit: CNSA

Martian rock surfaces covered with dust. (CNSA/via Xinhua)

This image shows wheel tracks from the rover, along with Martian rocks soil. Credit: CNSA/via Xinhua)

Sources: CNSA, Xinhua

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/