China's Mars rover touches down on the red planet

[Stevicus]

China's Zhurong Mars rover touches down on the red planet (nationalgeographic.com)

China's space program took a major leap today when it successfully landed the Zhurong rover on Mars, marking the country’s first landing on another planet. Teams will now prepare to roll the rover off its landing platform and onto the dusty Martian surface to begin a mission to search for evidence of water and hints of past life.

The touchdown makes China the second country in history to deposit a rover on the surface of Mars. After months in orbit around the red planet, the Tianwen-1 spacecraft released the Zhurong rover for a landing in Utopia Planitia, a vast plain that may once have been covered by an ancient Martian ocean. The 529-pound rover survived a perilous descent to the surface, including atmospheric entry, slowing from supersonic speeds with a parachute, and finally using retrorockets to safely alight on the ground.

It seems a new space race is in motion.

Meanwhile, NASA is planning a new Moon mission: NASA announces Artemis astronauts to fly to the moon (nationalgeographic.com)

Nearly 50 years have passed since we last landed on the moon, when the three-person crew of NASA’s Apollo 17 mission touched down near the edge of an ancient lava sea called Mare Serenitatis.

Now, the space agency is again bound for the lunar surface, revving up a program called Artemis that could send humans back to the moon within this decade. This time, though, it won’t be only men making the journey: NASA promises that the first woman to press her boots into the razor-sharp moondust will be on the inaugural Artemis flight to the surface.

Today, the agency finally revealed which of its 47 active astronauts have been assigned to Artemis, to train for humanity’s historic return to the moon.

“Our goal is to go to the moon sustainably, to learn how to live and work on another world,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during a meeting of the National Space Council, announcing the names of the 18 astronauts selected for training.

 

[Heyo]

China's Zhurong Mars rover touches down on the red planet (nationalgeographic.com)



It seems a new space race is in motion.

Meanwhile, NASA is planning a new Moon mission: NASA announces Artemis astronauts to fly to the moon (nationalgeographic.com)

With the right motivation, people, even governments, can be made to do the right thing.

 

[sun rise]

I'd much 100000 times much rather see this kind of competition.

 

[Twilight Hue]

China's Zhurong Mars rover touches down on the red planet (nationalgeographic.com)



It seems a new space race is in motion.

Meanwhile, NASA is planning a new Moon mission: NASA announces Artemis astronauts to fly to the moon (nationalgeographic.com)

The only thing that I like about China. Space exploration, where any country with the means shares its discovery and brings people together with a common interest in finding what's out there.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

It seems a new space race is in motion.

This is constructive international competition, like the race to bring the first successful vaccine to the market, or the Olympics.