Chinese Mars missions may be in trouble
Posted: Sun, Jan 15, 2023, 11:05 AM ET (1605 GMT)
China's first Mars orbiter and rover appear to be in trouble. The Zhurong rover, which went into hibernation last year during the winter season at its Utopia Planitia landing site, was expected to resume operations in December. However, according to Chinese sources, the rover has not yet made contact with controllers. While there has so far been no official comment, the rover may have been impacted by dust storms in the area that reduce the ability of the rover to generate power from its solar panels. Controllers have also experienced problems trying to contact the Tianwen-1 spacecraft orbiting Mars, which they hoped to use to communicate with Zhurong.
China's first Mars orbiter and rover appear to be in trouble. The Zhurong rover, which went into hibernation last year during the winter season at its Utopia Planitia landing site, was expected to resume operations in December. However, according to Chinese sources, the rover has not yet made contact with controllers. While there has so far been no official comment, the rover may have been impacted by dust storms in the area that reduce the ability of the rover to generate power from its solar panels. Controllers have also experienced problems trying to contact the Tianwen-1 spacecraft orbiting Mars, which they hoped to use to communicate with Zhurong.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Monday, March 23
A rare encounter: How Juice came to observe 3I/ATLAS
ESA — 4:14 am ET (0814 GMT) Ukraine makes territorial gains as Russia loses Starlink access
Semafor — 4:14 am ET (0814 GMT) State of Vandenberg: Growth, transparency, and a shared future
Santa Maria (CA) Times — 4:10 am ET (0810 GMT) Project Sunrise: Blue Origin's Orbital Data Centre Ambition
AI Magazine — 4:10 am ET (0810 GMT) Elon Musk unveils chip manufacturing plans for SpaceX and Tesla
TechCrunch — 4:08 am ET (0808 GMT) |
