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Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

China's Zhurong rover switches to dormant mode in severe Martian dust storm

https://www.marsdaily.com/reports/China … m_999.html

Mars rover Zhurong has been switched to dormant mode while waiting out a dust storm on the surface of the planet, the China National Space Administration said on Friday.

The latest images taken by cameras onboard China's Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter show a dust storm passing over the patrol area of Zhurong. Scientists compared them with photos taken in the last two months and analyzed recent power data of the rover's solar wings, which indicated Zhurong now braving an intense Martian dust storm.

Scientists will continue to use the Tianwen-1 orbiter to monitor the weather on Mars' southern hemisphere.

Drilling with Laser Spectroscopy Analysis
https://twitter.com/MarsZhurong/status/ … 5638836225
'Hole on Martian surface “drilled” by Zhurong Mars rover’s Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy: Before and After.'

In Chinese language
https://share.api.weibo.cn/share/308035 … 55876.html
Martian surface composition detector?

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-05-23 06:14:56)

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

Zhurong Rover Spots Evidence of Recent Liquid Water on Mars

https://eos.org/articles/zhurong-rover- … nteresting

China aims to bring Mars samples to Earth 2 years before NASA, ESA mission

https://spacenews.com/china-aims-to-bri … a-mission/

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

China's Mars probe completes mission, the national space agency is sharing the data they collected from Mars with global scientists.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-06-29/C … index.html

Mars probe transmitted about 1,040 gigabytes of raw data back to Earth. The data was then processed by scientists, some of which has been published in scientific journals.
data will eventually be released for scientists around the world, said the CNSA, which has been gathering applications.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-06-29 11:25:23)

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

Orbit photos and shifting sand (Chinese language)
https://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/2022/06 … 1303.shtml

A small rover to fetch loose rocks - a dog-like legged rover (Spanish Language)
https://danielmarin.naukas.com/2022/06/ … e-cercano/

Las misiones planetarias chinas Tianwen 2 y Tianwen 3: trayendo a la Tierra muestras de Marte y de un asteroide cercano

Taken before it began hibernating due to winter
https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1542045651101442049

China plans to complete space station with latest mission
https://news.yahoo.com/china-plans-comp … 03971.html

Venus orbiter, lunar constellation and exoplanets telescopes among candidates as China selects new space science missions
https://spacenews.com/venus-orbiter-lun … -missions/

China's Mars orbiter has mapped the entire Red Planet, nailing key science goal
https://www.space.com/china-mars-tianwe … mplete-map

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-07-02 17:40:05)

Mars_B4_Moon

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Posts: 9,776

Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

CNSA’s Mars sample return mission.
https://twitter.com/CNSAWatcher/status/ … 6155670528

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

China's Mars rover reveals more of subsurface
https://www.marsdaily.com/reports/China … e_999.html

What does the subsurface of Mars' northern lowlands have in common with a French mille crepe cake? They both consist of a number of layers, according to the latest findings by China's Zhurong Mars rover published in the journal Nature on Monday.

The discovery showed that the evolution of the Martian surface environment is more varied and complex than previously anticipated, experts said. Last year, the Zhurong rover landed in Utopia Planitia, a large plain that scientists suspect was once a massive ancient ocean.

Although the rover didn't detect liquid water up to 80 meters underground, the subsurface layer from 30 to 80 meters may be shaped by major flooding that took place around 3.2 to 3.5 billion years ago, said Chen Ling, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

For the layer between 10 and 30 meters underground, the strata were likely sculpted by smaller floods, meteorite impacts or long-term weathering during the Middle to Late Amazonian periods about 1.6 billion years ago, she said.

"What does Mars' underground look like, how did it evolve and whether there are water or ice buried deep under the Martian surface are very important scientific questions that have garnered a lot of attention," she said. "The Zhurong rover may provide valuable insights into these key questions."

China’s Zhurong Rover Looks Deep Underground and Sees Layers From Multiple Floods on Mars
https://www.universetoday.com/157881/ch … s-on-mars/

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

QUOTE

China moon base: "Clover" and "China Star" design proposals and construction processes for China's future lunar base from scientists from HIT and CASC.

And Space Pioneer also plans a 68 tons to LEO TL-3H(eavy) and the requisite spaceplane concept TL-3M
https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1625835371719188480

"Complex subsurface of Mars imaged by Chinese rover Zhurong"

https://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Compl … g_999.html

Ground-penetrating radar from China's Martian rover Zhurong reveals shallow impact craters and other geologic structures in the top five meters of the red planet's surface. The images of the Martian subsurface are presented in a paper published in Geology Thursday.

The Zhurong rover was sent to Mars as part of China's Tianwen-1 mission. Launched in July 2020, the rover landed on the surface on 15 May 2021. The rover was sent to a large plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars named Utopia Planitia, near the boundary between the lowlands where it landed and highlands to the south. The region was chosen because it's near suspected ancient shorelines and other interesting surface features, where the rover could look for evidence of water or ice.

A large body of underground ice was identified in a nearby part of Utopia Planitia in 2016 by radar from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. After landing, the Zhurong rover traveled about 1.9 km south, taking pictures of rocks, sand dunes, and impact craters, and collecting ground-penetrating radar data along the way.

Ground-penetrating radar detects features underground by sending electromagnetic pulses into the ground that are reflected back by any subsurface structures it passes over. The Zhurong rover uses two radar frequencies-a lower frequency that reaches deeper (~80 meters) with less detail, and a higher frequency used for the latest study, which shows more detailed features but only reaches ~4.5 meters down. Researchers hope that imaging the subsurface of Mars will help to shed light on the planet's geologic history, previous climate conditions, and any water or ice the planet may host now or in the past.

The researchers saw several curving and dipping underground structures in the Martian soil that they identify as buried impact craters, as well as other sloping features with less certain origins.

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-02-18 15:14:19)

Mars_B4_Moon

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Registered: 2006-03-23

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

Sleeping having a winter time nap or dead?

NASA Mars orbiter reveals China’s Zhurong rover has not moved for months
https://spacenews.com/nasa-mars-orbiter … or-months/

China’s Zhurong Mars rover faced a massive storm on May 2022 after which it started having issues. As per images taken by #NASA, the Zhurong rover stopped moving sometime before September last year.
https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/16 … 7845602304

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

I think it might be wise for NASA, JPL, China, which ever nation group sends a Rover to Mars to put a tail or arm on the rover to periodically clean itself just Elephants take baths  or like animal pet Cats clean their fur, or perhaps once in a while shaking like a dog or bird or like bees use all their limbs to clean ...maybe Boston Dynamics already have ideas.

NASA's HiRISE images show that Zhurong rover has not changed its position between 8 September 2022 and 7 February 2023. Its shape is not as clear as in the image one year ago as the rover is catching more Martian dust.

https://twitter.com/cnspaceflight/statu … 2363185153

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-02-22 09:46:59)

Mars_B4_Moon

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Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

China’s Rover Used Radar to Look Deep Beneath the Surface of Mars. What Did it Find?

https://www.universetoday.com/160445/ch … d-it-find/

While it didn’t find any evidence of water in the basin it was looking in, it did find some interesting buried features and provided more data to our mounting understanding of one of our nearest neighbors.

SpaceNut

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

Just goes to prove that solar alone will not cut it for a manned mission.

Mars_B4_Moon

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Posts: 9,776

Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

This post could also go in the Lunar Dust or Mars Dust Storm threads

'So China's Zhurong rover is probably dust, but
a bunch of images from the rover's expedition are now accessible online via China's lunar and planetary data release system.'

https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1651901897538777124

Some Mars photos taken by Zhurong's multispectral camera

https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/statu … 1622632448

The complete Mars map captured by the Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter has been officially released by CNSA and CAS during today's Space Day opening ceremony. It was also announced that the Zhurong Mars Rover remains in hibernation mode now.

https://twitter.com/CNSAWatcher/status/ … 6534474754

PDF

Evaluation of small-sized mounds formation mechanisms in China’s Zhurong landing region.
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2023/pdf/1242.pdf

PDF

Geological Exploration of Southern Utopia Planitia by Tianwen-1 Zhurong Rover
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2023/pdf/2129.pdf

Tianwen-1’s global map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs7BSXCxfGg

Zhurong: Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of Tianwen-1 mission, tells CCTV that dust accumulation is the probable cause of the rover not waking. 20% dust coverage will cause issue, 30% requires strongest lighting conditions to reawaken, while 40% means game over, never waking up.
https://twitter.com/aj_fi/status/1650725085366439938

'Good to have an official update. So, this is not conclusive. Hard to gauge dust coverage on Zhurong's solar panels from orbit. Could still wake up, with summer solstice but until July 12 . If it can wake up, it can use active dust cleaning measures. It could already be doomed tho'
https://twitter.com/aj_fi/status/1650726305254592513

Modern water at low latitudes on Mars: Potential evidence from dune surfaces
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add8868

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

Tianwen-1: Zhurong rover finds evidence of water at low latitudes on modern Mars

https://phys.org/news/2023-04-tianwen-z … tudes.html

Mars_B4_Moon

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Posts: 9,776

Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

Another addition to the 'Water on Mars' topic

China’s Rover Found Evidence of an Ancient Ocean on Mars
https://www.universetoday.com/161601/ch … n-on-mars/

In a recent study published in National Science Review, a team of researchers led by the China University of Geosciences discuss direct evidence of an ancient ocean and its shoreline that existed in the northern hemisphere of Mars during the Hesperian Period, or more than 3 billion years ago. This finding is based on data collected by the China National Space Agency’s (CNSA) Zhurong rover in the Vastitas Borealis Formation (VBF), which lies within southern Utopia Planitia on Mars.

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

There is a 'Moderate Resolution Imaging Camera' on the Tianwen orbiter so because this is an account with China type name  and posts I assume these are the images from the Chinese orbiter

The complex terrains around upper Kasei Valles in MC-10, stitched from 7 of 23 MoRIC images
https://twitter.com/WLR_2678/status/1666666291891937281

Orcus Patera between Olympus and Elysium Mons, stitched from 4 MoRIC images
https://twitter.com/WLR_2678/status/1667343476608966657

Zhurong never got to wake from its slumber

Even a Helicopter gets covered in sticky dust, Ingenuity also called Ginny,  a small robotic helicopter operating on Mars, part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, along with the Perseverance rover.

https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=10496

and an older article 2004

https://oklahoman.com/story/news/2004/0 … 997387007/

An Oklahoma professor is working on a project that will lengthen future Mars missions and make the planet a more suitable home for astronauts.

Albert Chen, a physics professor at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, is studying the properties of Martian dust and how to remove it from surfaces.

The dust, which is electrically charged and "sticky," poses problems for robots, equipment, housing and life-support systems.

For now, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration must cut short missions to Mars because of the thick dust.

Equipment such as solar panels loses efficiency once dust coats the surface. The efficiency of panels like those on the Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit decreases 30 percent after 60 days because of dust.

Chen began working on his dust project with NASA's Johnson Space Center in 1994, about seven years after he became interested in the idea. He is collaborating with Kennedy Space Center and the University of Arkansas to design equipment for measuring dust particles on Mars.

"We don't know enough about it. If we know the dust and know it well, we can get rid of it," Chen said.

"Dust attaches to everything, and there is not much we can do about it. If you have any window you can see through, it won't be long before this dust will stick to the window, and we cannot see outside."

Chen is concentrating on two areas of Martian dust.

First, he wants to know the dust's speed, size, mass and how many particles are present before, during and after a Martian dust storm.

The equipment Chen designed to study dust is being tested on Earth and eventually will be sent to Mars. The knowledge gained from the research will help scientists simulate the Martian atmosphere on Earth for testing equipment and people before traveling to the fourth planet.

Second, Chen is devising a way to remove the dust from equipment and people. Martian dust sticks to surfaces more readily than dust on Earth.

The dust particles on Mars are electrically charged, much like a balloon after being rubbed on a person's head. Just as the balloon sticks to the wall, the dust particles on Mars stick to all surfaces.

The charge is not wiped away by humidity or water like it is on Earth, and will stay stuck until discharged and removed.

Chen's idea would send a high voltage field through items such as solar panels to discharge dust particles. Once particles are no longer charged, they move off of equipment.

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

Martian dunes eroded by a shift in prevailing winds after the planet's last ice age

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Mart … e_999.html

Mars_B4_Moon

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Re: China's space probe sends back its first image of Mars

Arsia Mons, Mars. By Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter
https://twitter.com/CNSAWatcher/status/ … 2052238336

Tianwen-3: China’s Mars sample return mission
https://web.archive.org/web/20220915140 … rn-mission

Martian dunes indicative of wind regime shift in line with end of ice age
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06206-1

Orbital observations suggest that Mars underwent a recent ‘ice age’ (roughly 0.4–2.1 million years ago), during which a latitude-dependent ice-dust mantle (LDM)1,2 was emplaced. A subsequent decrease in obliquity amplitude resulted in the emergence of an ‘interglacial period’1,3 during which the lowermost latitude LDM ice4,5,6 was etched and removed, returning it to the polar cap. These observations are consistent with polar cap stratigraphy1,7, but lower- to mid-latitude in situ surface observations in support of a glacial–interglacial transition that can be reconciled with mesoscale and global atmospheric circulation models8 is lacking. Here we present a suite of measurements obtained by the Zhurong rover during its traverse across the southern LDM region in Utopia Planitia, Mars. We find evidence for a stratigraphic sequence involving initial barchan dune formation, indicative of north-easterly winds, cementation of dune sediments, followed by their erosion by north-westerly winds, eroding the barchan dunes and producing distinctive longitudinal dunes, with the transition in wind regime consistent with the end of the ice age. The results are compatible with the Martian polar stratigraphic record and will help improve our understanding of the ancient climate history of Mars

Dead?

Seasons last twice as long, the Mars southern hemisphere has “harsher” seasons than in the north Spring for the rovers in the North of Mars is the start of the dust season.

CNSA will keep trying to wake Zhurong up until this December.
https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/statu … 1773966336

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-08-16 17:22:59)