The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Sunday released several scientific research results from its first Mars exploration mission.
As of Thursday, the Tianwen-1 orbiter had been operating for 780 days, while the Zhurong rover had traveled 1,921 meters across the Red Planet’s surface, according to the CNSA’s Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center.
The orbiter and rover both performed targeted scientific exploration missions and acquired 1,480 gigabytes of raw scientific data, the center said.
Using data collected by Zhurong, Chinese scientists revealed the relationship between the formation of geological features and aquatic activities on Mars by conducting an in-depth study of these geological features in the landing zone.
Chinese scientists also found hydrous minerals in plate-like rocks, a layer of “concreted crust (or duricrust)”, proving that there has been significant liquid water activity in the landing zone since the Amazonian era, regarding 1 billion years ago.
The scientists also found that the Martian soil had high bearing strength and low friction parameters, revealing that the site where the rover had landed had likely suffered wind and possibly water erosion.
These results revealed the impact of wind and water activities on the geological evolution and environmental changes of Mars, and confirmed the hypothesis that there was once an ocean in the Utopia Planitia plain, according to the CNSA.
In addition, Chinese scientists have obtained a number of scientific results on the relationship between the density of rocks on the Martian surface and the degree of surface erosion, the distribution of ions and neutral particles in the near space environment. of Mars, as well as on the gravity field of Mars.
Relevant studies have been published in Nature Astronomy, Nature Geoscience and Science Advances.
Future missions will continue to conduct remote sensing surveys and accumulate scientific data, CNSA said.
The Tianwen-1 probe, consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, was launched on July 23, 2020. On May 15, 2021, it landed on the preselected landing zone in the area of Utopia Planitia, a vast Martian plain, marking the first time that China has landed a probe on the planet.
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