China landed a spacecraft on Mars carrying its first Mars rover in a big boost to its space ambitions. China had in July last year launched its first Mars mission, called Tianwen-1, meaning Questions to Heaven, carrying a lander and rover.
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Tianwen-1 had been in orbit since February, and recently, a lander descended successfully on to the surface of the red planet carrying a rover named Zhurong, named after a god of fire for a planet known in Chinese as the planet of fire.
Only the Soviet Union and the U.S. had previously carried out a successful landing on Mars.
The rover will provide “first-hand materials for research on the planet’s space environment, surface topography, and soil structure”.
China had previously tried to launch a Mars orbiter along with Russia in 2011, but that failed to enter orbit. This attempt, on its own, hit the target.
