China's Mars probe beams back its first photos of the Red Planet
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An image taken by a camera installed in front of China's Zhurong rover, showing a ramp on the lander that has been extended to the surface of the planet.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
BEIJING • China has released the first photographs and video from its Mars probe, four days after the spacecraft landed on the Red Planet.
The first photograph, a black and white image, was taken by an obstacle avoidance camera installed in front of the Mars rover, the China National Space Administration said in a statement on its website.
The image shows a ramp on the lander that has been extended to the planet's surface. The terrain in front of the rover is clearly visible in the image, while the horizon appears curved because of the camera's wide-angle lens.
The second image, in colour, was taken by the navigation camera fitted to the rear of the rover. The rover's solar panels and antenna are seen unfolded, and the red soil and rocks on the Martian surface are clearly visible.
The landing module from the Tianwen-1, which has been in orbit since February, touched down on Utopia Planitia, a large plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars, last Saturday, according to reports by state media CCTV.
The lander was carrying the Zhurong rover, named after an ancient Chinese god of fire, which will explore the surface near the landing site. China is the second country after the United States to send a rover to Mars. The 240kg rover can last three Martian months, about 92 days on Earth.
The probe also sent back a video taken by a camera on the orbiter, showing how the lander and the rover separated from the orbiter during landing.
The Mars rover could provide a public relations boost for President Xi Jinping's government, following the crash of debris from a Chinese rocket early this month that raised alarm worldwide about the secrecy of the country's space programme.
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