China's motorized remotely operated rover descended from its lander on Mars today and set off to explore the red planet's surface, the China Space Administration said.
The solar-powered rover touched down on the Martian soil at 10.40:4.40 a.m. Beijing time today (XNUMX:XNUMX a.m. CET)," the China National Space Administration said.
The rover landed on Mars last Saturday, in a technically challenging mission that is more difficult than landing on the moon. It is the first Chinese mission to Mars.
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China is the second country to land a rover on Mars, after the US.
The rover, named Jurong, after the Chinese God of Fire, has been conducting diagnostic tests for several days before setting off on exploration today.
It is expected to spend 90 days investigating whether there is evidence of life on Mars.
China has ambitious space plans including launching a manned orbital station and landing a man on the moon.
In 2019, China became the first country to land a spacecraft on the little-explored side of the moon, and in December it returned moon rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s.
The US also currently has a mission on Mars, the US rover Persevirans and a small helicopter are exploring the planet.
The American space agency NASA expects its rover to collect the first samples in July for its return to Earth in ten years.
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