China unable to reestablish contact with its Zhurong rover (Mars to Earth network)

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https://www.universetoday.com/159553/chi...ars-rover/

INTRO: . . . it’s been a tough winter in Utopia Planetia in Mars northern hemisphere where Zhurong is located. Not only were the temperatures extremely low, colder than -100°C (-148°F), but a regional dust storm severely reduced the likelihood of the rover collecting any power with its solar panels...

[...] According to the South China Morning Post, the mission team predicted Zhurong would resume operations around December 26 as the planet’s northern hemisphere entered its spring season and environmental conditions improved. But so far, no contact has been established.

Zhurong landed on Mars on May 15, 2021, making China the second country ever to successfully land a rover on Mars. The cute rover, named after a Chinese god of fire, explored its landing site, sent back pictures  — including a selfie with its lander, taken by a remote camera – studied the topography of Mars, and conducted other science experiments.

The South China Morning Post also quoted sources saying that the Chinese space authorities planned to send the their orbiter, the Tianwen-1 probe, to take pictures of the rover... (MORE - missing details)

Everything China's Zhurong rover has found on Mars so far ... https://youtu.be/Huy8W8eG_wg

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Huy8W8eG_wg

[Yazata]

The HiRise camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been taking periodic photos of China's Zhurong rover from Mars orbit. And the HiRise team reports that Zhurong appears not to have moved since a photo taken Sept 8, 2022 and that it remained in the same place as of the latest photo February 7, 2023.

It's sad if it's dead, but the Chinese should be proud of their accomplishment just getting it there in working order and then getting 16 months of life out of it.

https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1628057607557586944

(nasa photos) Zhurong is to the top left in the first photo, and has moved just to the lower right of the little crater in the middle one, which I assume is Sept 8. It's in the same place in the third photo which I assume is Feb 7.

(Mars: the only known planet populated entirely by robots!)

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