China has named its first-ever Mars rover “Zhurong” after an ancient fire god ahead of a landing attempt on the Red Planet in May 2021.
Zhurong features
- The China National Space Administration (CNSA) revealed the name at the sixth China Space Day held in Nanjing on April 24, 2021.
- The roughly 240 kilograms solar-powered Zhurong rover is part of the Tianwen-1 mission, which launched in July 2020 and arrived in orbit around Mars in February.
- The Tianwen-1 orbiter has been collecting high-resolution images of Zhurong’s target landing site in Utopia Planitia.
