China just successfully landed its first rover on Mars, becoming only the second nation to try to to so.
The six-wheeled Zhurong robot was targeting Utopia Planitia, a huge terrain within the planet's hemisphere .
The vehicle used a mixture of a protective capsule, a parachute and a rocket platform to form the descent.
The successful touchdown may be a remarkable achievement, given the difficult nature of the task.
Only the Americans have really mastered landing on Mars so far . All other countries that have tried have either crashed or lost contact soon after touchdown.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated the mission team's "outstanding achievement" during a special message.
"You were brave enough for the challenge, pursued excellence and placed our country within the advanced ranks of planetary exploration," he said.
The robot officially landed at 07:18 on Saturday, Beijing time (Friday 23:18 GMT), consistent with state media.
It took 17 minutes to unfold its solar panels and send a sign back to Earth.
A protective covering protected the spacecraft during the fiery descent, after which the mission safely parachuted right down to the Utopia Planitia region, a clear inside a huge impact basin within the planet's hemisphere . very similar to during NASA's Perseverance rover landing, Tianwen-1's landing platform fired some small, downward-facing rocket engines to hamper during the previous couple of seconds of its descent.
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The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has not yet officially confirmed the successful landing, but it's been announced on social media by the state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN) and by researchers at Macau University of Science and Technology in China.
A heatshield on the capsule slowed the autumn by pushing up against the Martian air. A parachute then reduced the speed still further. Finally, the robot broke away on a rocket-powered bench for the manoeuvres that took it safely to the bottom .
Landing on Mars is usually a frightening challenge, but China would have had confidence going into the procedure given the good competence it's shown in its space endeavours lately . this is often a nation that has been putting rovers on the Moon, and bringing lunar samples back to Earth. This month it launched the primary segment of an area station.
Now that Zhurong possesses down successfully, scientists will attempt to get a minimum of 90 Martian days of service out of it, studying the local geology. A day, or Sol, on Mars lasts 24 hours and 39 minutes.
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