China News Service, Nanjing, April 24 (Guo Chaokai, Zhu Xiaoying) The launching ceremony of the 2021 "China Space Day" and the opening ceremony of the 2021 China Space Conference will be held in Nanjing, Jiangsu on the 24th.
At the launching ceremony, the name of China's first Mars rover was announced. After a global call for names, expert review, and online voting, the "Zhurong" finally stood out.
Zhu Rong is revered as the earliest god of fire in traditional Chinese culture, symbolizing that the ancestors of the Chinese nation used fire to illuminate the earth and bring light.
China's first Mars rover was named "Zhu Rong", which means to ignite the fire of China's interstellar exploration and guide mankind's continuous exploration and self-transcendence in the vast starry sky and the unknown of the universe.
"Zhurong" Mars rover simulation image courtesy of China National Space Administration
The "Zhurong" rover is 1 meter 85 in height, weighs about 240 kg, and has a design life of 3 Mars months, which is equivalent to about 92 Earth days.
The "Zhurong" rover will carry out exploration work on Mars, such as surface composition, material type distribution, geological structure, and Martian meteorological environment.
China's first Mars exploration mission, Tianwen-1, was successfully launched into orbit on July 23, 2020. It was successfully captured by Mars on February 10 this year and successfully entered the ring fire orbit.
The Tianwen-1 mission has taken the first step in China's planetary exploration. It will achieve "circumnavigation, patrol, and patrol" of Mars through a single mission, that is, Mars circumnavigation, Mars landing, and fire inspection.
At present, the Tianwen-1 probe has completed the acquisition of high-definition image data of the pre-selected landing area through multiple high-resolution imaging. The follow-up will carry out the landform topography and meteorological environment analysis of the landing area as planned to prepare for landing on Mars from May to June. .
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