What is the name given by the Chinese space agency to its first Mars Rover, launched in Tianwen-1 mission?

Asked 08-Feb-2022
Updated 08-Feb-2022
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What is the name given by the Chinese space agency to its first Mars Rover, launched in Tianwen-1 mission?



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Zhurong, China's first Mars rover.' Xinhua News Agency, April 24, 2021.

Zhurong, China's first rover to settle on some other planet, is a Mars rover. It is part of the China National Space Administration's Tianwen-1 Mars mission (CNSA). The spacecraft was deployed on July 23, 2020, and placed in Martian orbit on February 10, 2021. The lander, transporting the rover, successfully soft-landed on Mars on May 14, 2021, making China the 3rd nation after the Soviet Union and the United States to soft-land a spaceship on Mars and maintain connections from the surface. Zhurong was officially launched on May 22, 2021, at 02:40 UTC.

What is the name given by the Chinese space agency to its first Mars Rover, launched in Tianwen-1 mission?

Zhurong is called after a Chinese mytho-historical person linked with flame and brightness, same as Mars is known as 'the Planet of Fire' in China and several other East Asian nations. It was chosen through publicly viewable voting that took place between 20 January 2021 and 28 February 2021, with Zhurong coming in the top with 504,466 votes. The title was selected to represent the Chinese person's ambition to travel the stars and discover unknowns in the cosmos, as well as to rekindle the flame of interplanetary travel in China.