Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Context

• China’s first Mars rover will be named Zhurong after a traditional fire god.

Zhurong Rover

• Zhurong Rover is aboard the Tianwen-1 probe that arrived in Mars orbit on February 24 and is due to land to look for evidence of life.
• It is part of Chinese space plans that include launching a crewed orbital station and landing a human on the moon.
• China in 2019 became the first country to land a space probe on the little-explored far side of the moon and in December returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s.
• The rover’s title fits with the Chinese name for Mars — “Huo Xing,” or fire star. The name signifies igniting the flame of China’s planetary exploration.
• China would become the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a robot rover on Mars.

Read: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/china-launches-ambitious-tianwen-1-mars-rover-mission

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/chinas-first-mars-rover-named-zhurong/article34406877.ece

Download PDF