China's first Mars rover has been named 'Zhurong' after a traditional fire god, as per an announcement made by the government on April 24, 2021.
The rover is currently aboard China's Mars probe Tianwen-1, which had entered the Mars orbit on February 24 and will land on the red planet in May to search for evidence of life.
China's Mars probe is a part of its ambitious space plans to launch a crewed space station and land a human on the moon.
China's Mars Rover name: Significance
China's Mars Rover has been named 'Zhurong' after a traditional fire god. The name reportedly has been chosen as it fits with the Chinese name for Mars — “Huo Xing,” or fire star, said the China National Space Administration.
The name 'Zhurong' signifies igniting the flame of China’s planetary exploration.
China's 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 former Soviet Union to land a rover on Mars. ObjectiveChina's Tianwen-1 probe aims to analyse and map the Martian surface and geology, looking for water ice and studying the climate and surface environment. |
Background
China became the first country in 2019 to land a space probe on the little-explored far side of the moon. It also became the first country to return lunar rocks to Earth in December 2020 for the first time since the 1970s.
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