China's Zhurong rover on Mars has been in hibernation since last May due to an 'unpredictable accumulation' of dust, the mission designer said.
China’s Zhurong rover on Mars has been in hibernation since last May due to an “unpredictable accumulation” of dust, mission designer Zhang Rongqiao said, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday. Powered by solar energy, Zhurong landed in a large plain in Mars’ northern hemisphere called Utopia Planitia on May 15, 2021, and went into hibernation last May during winter.
’s Ingenuity helicopter experienced issues during the same Martian winter that caused Zhurong to go into hibernation, although the chopper weathered the season and just completed its 50th flight on Mars. Rovers and landers are no strangers to the risks that the Martian environment poses. The InSight lander’s mission came to an end in December after spending nearly 1,500 days on Mars. Mission managers declared the program’s end after the lander failed to respond to two messages from mission control at
’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The mission ended more than four years after it first landed on November 26, 2018, revealing new information about the interior of Mars. Designed to last for only two years, InSight’s mission was extended twice. But a heavy accumulation of dust on its solar panels caused a steady drop in the lander’s power source.
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