Pictures from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show that China's Zhurong rover is still in place on Mars, despite the country's continued silence over the condition of its spacecraft, as reported first by SpaceNews.
Three photos of the rover were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on March 11, 2022, September 8, 2022, and lastly February 7, 2023. The photographs were released by the HiRISE Operations Center on February 21.
This cutout was made from three photos taken between 2022 and 2023. The rover is the dark, somewhat bluish structure that can be made out in the bottom center of the other two images as well as the top middle of the first (left) image. This time series demonstrates that from 8 September 2022 and 7 February 2023, the rover's position was unchanged.
Zhurong's Status
The pictures demonstrate that the Zhurong, a solar-powered craft that touched down in May 2021, has not moved since at least September 2022.
The craft had gone into a scheduled hibernation condition in May 2022 to survive the winter's low solar radiation levels in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars.
Zhurong was supposed to continue its activities on its own around December, close to the northern hemisphere's Spring Solstice, when the temperature and light levels were suitable for the rover's batteries and solar arrays to produce adequate electrical power.
But Chinese space authorities have not given updates about the rover's status. The mission team has not yet received a signal from Zhurong, according to a report published on January 7 by the South China Morning Post, which cited unnamed sources.
Martian Dust
Based on the progression of the HiRISE photos, Zhurong might have gathered a layer of Martian dust on its surface.
SpaceNews noted that this could the performance of the solar panels as well as the two windows that allow a substance called n-undecane that stores heat during the day and releases it at night.
Zhurong uses methods like n-undecane for heating and an aerogel coating for insulation rather than radioisotope heater units, which are utilized by China's Yutu lunar rovers.
In 2005, the NASA Spirit rover happened to come across a dust devil, which cleaned the spacecraft's solar panels and increased its ability to generate power.
There may yet be some hope of Zhurong reactivating with rising solar radiation levels as summer arrives in the northern hemisphere, according to SpaceNews.
MRO/HiRISE previously captured surface images of Zhurong, revealing its landing region and indicating tracks that matched those on Chinese Zhurong drive maps.
Zhurong was launched in July 2020 as part of the Tianwen-1 mission, which marked the country's first interplanetary exploration.
The mission sent the Tianwen-1 spacecraft into orbit around Mars, and after a campaign to scan and evaluate the intended landing spot, Zhurong touched down in Utopia Planitia.
The current situation of Zhurong was not discussed in any of the reports that the Chinese state media issued to commemorate the orbital insertion anniversary.
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