Zhurong: China’s first Mars rover

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The Chinese government announced that its first Mars rover will be named Zhurong after a traditional fire god. This name fits with the Chinese name for Mars - “Huo Xing” or fire star.

About Zhurong

• Zhurong is China’s first Mars rover mission. The rover is aboard the Tianwen-1 space probe. The rover was launched in the Mars orbit Mission in February 2021 and is due to land in May.

• The rover is named after a traditional fire god. The rover’s title also fits with the Chinese name for Mars i.e. “Huo Xing” or fire star.

• Zhurong carries multispectral cameras and instruments to analyze the composition of the rocks. It will also investigate subsurface characteristics with ground-penetrating radar.

Tianwen-1 probe

• China is planning to land its Tianwen-1 Mars probe in Utopia Planitia, a rock-strewn plain on the red planet. This is the same landing site where the US lander Viking 2 touched down in 1976. China will become the third country after the US and the former Soviet Union to land a rover on Mars.

• China's Tianwen-1 probe aims to analyze and map the Martian surface and geology, looking for water ice and studying the climate and surface environment.