China successfully lands rover on Mars after ‘seven minutes of terror’ in new space race with US
Sarah Grealish
Updated: May 16 2021, 13:44 ET
Sarah Grealish
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CHINA S Mars rover has landed on the Red Planet after a treacherous descent through the Martian atmosphere using a parachute in seven minutes of terror .
Zhurong, named after a Chinese mythical fire god, arrives a few months behind America s latest probe to Mars - Perseverance - sparking a new space race with the US.
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The six-wheeled solar-powered rover is on a quest to collect and analyse rock samples from Mars surface.
The landing was a nail-biter for the China National Space Administration (CNSA), with state media describing the process of using a parachute to slow descent and buffer legs as the most challenging part of the mission .
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China to attempt its 1st ever rover landing on Mars TONIGHT as space race with US heats up
Charlotte Edwards, Digital Technology and Science Reporter
May 14 2021, 6:35 ET
Updated: May 14 2021, 9:13 ET
CHINA S Mars rover is expected to land on the Red Planet tonight as the country competes with the US and the UAE s 2021 missions.
The rover will have to go through ‘seven minutes of terror’ at around 7:11pm ET, which is just after midnight in the UK.
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The Zhurong rover is part of China s first interplanetary mission.
A successful touchdown will make history for the country as it s never landed a rover on Mars before.
Mars In 3D: NASA Releases Stunning 3D View Of Ingenuity Helicopter s Historic Flight
KEY POINTS
NASA shared a 3D view of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter s third flight on Mars
The agency also shared simple steps to create 3D glasses
Still can t get enough of the Mars Ingenuity helicopter s first flights on the Red Planet? NASA has just come up with a way for people to watch it in 3D.
The Perseverance rover is already an incredible feat in itself, but the Ingenuity helicopter that came along with it on the trip is also making waves of its own. Since arriving on Mars, Ingenuity has completed several historic flights, and the Perseverance rover even
Another First: Perseverance Captures the Sounds of Driving on Mars
NASA’s newest rover recorded audio of itself crunching over the surface of the Red Planet, adding a whole new dimension to Mars exploration.
As the Perseverance rover began to make tracks on the surface of Mars, a sensitive microphone it carries scored a first: the bangs, pings, and rattles of the robot’s six wheels as they rolled over Martian terrain.
“A lot of people, when they see the images, don’t appreciate that the wheels are metal,” said Vandi Verma, a senior engineer and rover driver at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “When you’re driving with these wheels on rocks, it’s actually very noisy.”
Touchdown! NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Lands Successfully on Mars: After a seven-month-long journey, NASA’s Perseverance Rover successfully touched down on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021. Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California celebrate landing NASA’s fifth and most ambitious rover on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Download video ›
The agency’s latest and most complex mission to the Red Planet has touched down at Jezero Crater. Now it’s time to begin testing the health of the rover.
The largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world touched down on Mars Thursday, after a 203-day journey traversing 293 million miles (472 million kilometers). Confirmation of the successful touchdown was announced in mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California at 3:55 p.m. EST (12:55 p.m. PST).