Thanks to the rover “Zhurong” China has joined the elite group of superpowers to roam unmanned vehicles on Mars. Unfortunately, this beautiful story may have just ended, because the rover has fallen silent forever. All because of the sandstorm on the Red Planet that occurred in May 2022 in the area of operation of the probe.
The Chinese noticed a decrease in the voltage of the batteries and, out of despair, made a decision Put the rover into hibernation until December 2022. Then the rover was supposed to wake up and go back to work, that is, go on another trip around the Red Planet. But something went wrong, and it hasn’t sent any sign of life returning to Earth since then.
The China National Space Agency, or CNSA, has not presented an official position on the Mars rover. However, independent experts suspect his problems could be serious. Specialist in the Chinese space program Andrew Jones on the pages of the site Space news He noted that the vague silence of the “Zurong” rover may have been caused by a layer of sand on the solar panels, which was created by a dust storm. The Chinese hoped that within a few months the rover’s batteries would be charged enough to send a signal back to Earth. If there is no way to wake it up from hibernation, its job is probably just finished. – For several months, the Chinese did not provide information on the status of “Zhurong”. Andrew Jones says.
