China releases landing video and sounds captured by Zhurong Mars rover

Video shows rover going through entry, descent and landing phases

The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) has released video footage from its Zhurong rover as well as the sounds it recorded in the moments leading to its landing on Mars last month.

In the footage released on Sunday, the rover, which landed on the Red Planet’s surface on 14 May, can be seen going through its entry, descent and landing phases. The video shows parachute deployment, backshell separation, and a gentle hover during its hazard avoidance phase.

In the first post-landing video, the rover can be seen backing away after it put the camera on the ground. The other two videos from the ground show the rover’s wheels in motion as it remains still on a landing platform, and then its descent onto the Martian surface from the platform.

The last video also included sounds coming from metal on metal interaction made during the 240kg rover’s descent from the platform. However, the sounds appear muffled due to the weaker atmosphere on Mars compared to that on the Earth.

According to CNSA, these pictures were captured using a wireless camera placed on the ground, and were relayed to the Earth via the Tianwen-1 satellite which orbits Mars.

The space agency noted in a statement that the orbiter and the rover, which has covered a distance of 236m on the Red Planet as of 27 June, are in good working condition, “reporting safely from Mars to the party and the motherland.”

CNSA added that the new videos are “distant blessings” on the century of the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th year of founding, which the country would observe on 1 July.

“With the files we released this time, including those sounds recorded when our Mars rover left the lander, we are able to conduct in-depth analysis to the environment and condition of Mars, for example, the density of the atmosphere on the Mars,” Liu Jizhong, deputy commander of China’s first Mars exploration programme, told Chinese media.

On 11 June, CNSA revealed the first batch of scientific photos on the rover’s landing on the Red planet, showing a panoramic view of the landing site and the topography and landforms of Mars.

The six-wheeled, solar powered rover is part of China’s Tianwen-1 mission, the country’s first independent interplanetary mission, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover.

Over the following months, the rover would analyse the Martian surface and atmosphere using its science payloads for the planet’s weather, topography and geology, complementing data from previous Mars missions by other space agencies.

The mission’s payloads involved in this analysis include a a climate station, a ground-penetrating radar, a magnetometer, and a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy instrument for analysing surface elements and minerals – capabilities and goals it shares with Nasa’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.