February 10 marked the second anniversary of China’s ambitious Tianwen 1 mission — which also happens to be the nation’s first interplanetary mission. Amid the celebration, one voice remained silent, that of China’s Zhurong Mars rover, which was sent to the surface of the red planet as part of Beijing’s Tianwen 1 mission. The Chinese rover has been in “hibernation” for months. It was supposed to wake up back in December of last year. However, almost two months later, its slumber still continues. Last month, a report expressed hope that Zhurong would come out of its sleep, but recent images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show that it hasn’t changed its position for five months.
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As per NASA, the rover hasn’t moved since September 2022. The space agency’s office at the University of Arizona which manages the HiRISE camera released a series of images, which show that Zhurong has not changed its position between September 8, 2022 and February 7, 2023.
The rover entered its hibernation mode way back on May 18, 2022, to survive barren Mars’ harsh winter months. During winter on the red planet, temperatures can fall down to minus 195 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 degrees Celsius).
As per Jia Yang, Tianwen 1 mission deputy chief designer, the rover would wake up when two conditions are met: it can generate energy greater than 140 watts and the planet’s temperature, or rather the region where the rover is, reaches the somewhat warmer, 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius).
However, it is possible that due to Mars’ sand storms, Zhurong which uses solar arrays for energy might be unable to do so. Dust may be hindering the rover’s arrays. Even if it never wakes up, the rover has already achieved significant things; it successfully completed one year of operations, for which it was also presented with the International Astronautical Federation’s annual space achievement award in September 2022.
(With inputs from agencies)
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