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Zhurong Mars rover of China’s first independent interplanetary exploration expedition has gone silent as images captured by Nasa orbiter shows it has not moved on the Red Planet’ surface for five months.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera atop the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which is frequently used to observe changes to dust-covered areas near Mars surface missions, captured images of the rover. “Time series shows that the rover has not changed its position between 8 September 2022 and 7 February 2023,” HiRISE Operations Center said publishing the images on Tuesday.
There has been no official update from Chinese authorities on the mission’s status. Zhurong was supposed to wake up in December after resting through the sandstorm season on Mars, once the temperature and light levels reached a level where the rover’s solar arrays could produce enough electricity. According to a month-old report from South China Morning Post, Chinese scientists allegedly failed to awaken the Martian rover and intend to send a probe to investigate.
Zhurong rover is part of Tianwen-1 mission launched in July 2020 which made China only sixth country in the world to have a spacecraft orbiting Mars.
India’s Mars Orbiter mission – Mangalyaan retired after running out of fuel in October. The country’s second mission is scheduled to launch in 2025. While India has successfully placed an orbiter in another planet’s orbit, only the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China have successfully landed a rover.