Sébastien Le Belzic (correspondent in China), edited by Romain Rouillard 06:44, September 29, 2022

The small explorer robot launched on Mars by China a year ago has revealed its first secrets.

In particular, it reveals the presence of "recent" liquid water on the red planet, which could mean the existence of Martian life over the last billion years.

Beijing is investing colossal sums in the conquest of space.

China continues its conquest of space.

More than a year ago, Beijing placed a probe and a small robot on Mars.

The latter has just revealed the presence of "recent" liquid water on the red planet.

A discovery that could reveal the existence of a former life on Mars.

After more than a year crisscrossing the star, the Chinese rover Zhurong has traveled less than 2km but has already accumulated a wealth of data.

Some suggest that water existed on Mars a billion years ago.

Previous studies estimated that Martian water disappeared about 3 billion years ago.

Billions of euros invested 

"If there was water, we can assume that the atmosphere was suitable for the origin of life or that the weather conditions on Mars were favorable during the last billion years", indicates this researcher to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Hydrated minerals had not been detected by previous orbiters.

Zhurong's data is therefore very important and the robot will continue its exploration of the red planet for some time to come.

China has invested billions of euros in its space program and landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon for the first time in 2019.

>>

READ ALSO

- Space conquest: three taikonauts have joined the "Heavenly Palace", the Chinese station

In 2020, China brought back samples from the Moon and the following year, it therefore landed this little robot on Mars.

Beijing now plans to send men to the moon by 2030.