The China National Space Administration reports that the “window of opportunity” has opened, for the rover, Zhurong, to be released from the orbiting mother ship, Tianwen-1, to begin its mission of exploration on the surface of Mars.
The rover has remained attached to the mother ship to be able to benefit from a thorough terrain mapping of the proposed landing site. But to increase the chance of success, the rover can hover above the ground and use its laser-guided system to assess the site for dangers such as boulders. The plan is for the rover to last for three months, but many U.S. Mars rovers, and Chinese lunar rovers, have records of lasting far longer than they were designed for.
Mars is becoming quite densely populated with roving vehicles, so far, only from the U.S. But if Zhurong succeeds in landing in Utopia Planitia, it could be roughly only 200 km from Perseverance. David Flannery, of Queensland University of Technology in Australia, says if Zhurong lands at night, Perseverance could even get a glimpse of the new visitor.
