Nasa's 'James Webb Space Telescope' launches into orbit
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NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft has spotted China’s Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars. The images captured provided an overview of the one mile-long tracks which were created as the rover travels through Mars. To capture the images, the researchers used MRO’s powerful HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera.
The MRO is a NASA spacecraft which is designed to study the geology and climate of the Red Planet.
Part of its function is to provide reconnaissance of future landing sites and to relay data from surface missions back to Earth.
Some of the MRO’s most notable missions include searching for ice and water on Mars, finding a landing spot for the Mars Curiosity rover, and capturing an image of the comet Siding Spring which flew close by in 2014.
Despite the spacecraft orbiting 179 miles (288 kilometres) above the planet, the HiRISE was able to provide an overview of the roughly 0.93 miles (1.5 km) of tracks that Zhurong has made since landing last May.
The Zhurong is China’s first Mars rover, and also their first rover to successfully land on another planet.
The rover is part of the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars conducted by the China National Space Administration.
The image captured shows that the Zhurong rover travelled to the parachute and backshell it used to slow down its descent through the thin atmosphere on the planet, allowing it to survey the features of the surface, including the dunes.
The Zhurong mission also includes an orbiter in space, which completed its first full Earth year orbiting Mars.
The objective of the rover is to study the topography and geology of the local area, analyse the soil and ice content it may find, and examine the elements, minerals and rocks on the planet.
The MRO reached Mars on March 10, 2006, and completed more than 50,000 laps in March 2017.
Originally designed for a two-year mission around the Red Planet, NASA has announced plans to operate the spacecraft well beyond the mid-2020s.
In 2009, the MRO was able to determine that the north polar ice cap of Mars had 821,000 cubic kilometres (197,000 cu mi) of water ice, which is equal to 30 percent of the Earth’s Greenland ice sheet.
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That same year, the spacecraft also captured images of new craters of the moon that had been excavated.
Scientists have also used the data collected from the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, to discover widespread deposits of chloride minerals.
This is significant as places with chlorine deposits may have once contained primitive life forms.
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