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China’s Mars rover Zhu Rong’s ‘selfies’ suggest dust storms on red planet
- Thin layer of dust on rover as seen in latest photos not expected to affect exploration tasks
- Researchers studying Zhu Rong data point to valuable inputs on ‘habitability evolution of Mars’
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The thin layer of dust on the surface of China’s Mars rover will not affect its exploration capacity, the country’s space authorities said, as newly released high-resolution photos showed evidence of dust storms on the red planet.
Releasing the latest “selfies” from cameras mounted on the Mars rover “Zhu Rong”, the China National Space Administration said the images showed a thin layer of dust had accumulated on the robotic vehicle’s surface since it was successfully deployed in May last year.
While the dust had affected power generation efficiency of its solar wings to “a certain extent”, it still had enough energy to conduct exploration tasks, CNSA said in a statement on Thursday.
There was no immediate need to deploy “special designs” on the solar wings to offset the efficiency decline caused by dust coverage, the statement added.
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China Mars rover Zhu Rong successfully lands on red planet
China Mars rover Zhu Rong successfully lands on red planet
CNSA also said that its Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter had seen no obvious sign of dusty weather around the Zhu Rong’s location. The orbiter has monitored dust activities in Mars’ northern hemisphere since late January and sent back pictures in February of dust storms in the area.
Space authorities also released other high resolution pictures taken by Tianwen-1 showing track marks left by the Zhu Rong, and said it travelled a total of 1,784 metres (5,853 feet) in 306 Mars solar days, or sols.
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