And discreetly ... The Chinese robot Zhurong landed on Mars

Americans will no longer be alone on Mars!

Shortly after 1 a.m. (Paris time) on Saturday, China clearly managed to land its Zhurong robot on the surface of the Red Planet.

And to obtain a sign of "life" from the craft.

It thus becomes the second country to operate a machine on Earth's neighbor, after the United States.

Despite a soft landing fifty years ago, the Soviet Mars 3 probe failed after twenty seconds.

More recently, the European missions Beagle 2 and Schiaparelli had also ended in failure.

It wasn't until about 1h20 after Zhurong's success that the official Xinhua News Agency confirmed the news, without giving the exact time.

On the social network Weibo, she posted an animation illustrating the landing under a Star Wars header, hailing a "milestone".

State television CCTV also put an end to speculation.

Ahora la agencia china Xinhua confirma el descenso del rover #Zhurong al sur de la planicia Utopia Planitia (hemisferio norte de Marte) https://t.co/QpF3wPEt24 pic.twitter.com/9wOlxC3PNe

- Federico Kukso (@fedkukso) May 15, 2021

These announcements were preceded by a deafening silence, including during the maneuvers, contrasting with the avalanche of messages and photos from NASA which surrounded the landing of the Perseverance probe on February 18. “The Chinese do not communicate and refuse to have events broadcast live. There is a fairly strict control of information, ”comments Francis Rocard, head of solar system exploration programs at the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes). For lack of official echoes, space enthusiasts on the Internet counted down to the famous "seven minutes of terror" which followed the entry of the probe into the Martian atmosphere.

On Twitter, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the scientific missions directorate of NASA, promptly congratulated the Tianwen-1 mission team.

For Francis Rocard, landing on Mars in this way constitutes a "very fine feat".

“The Chinese have played big in this story.

It is extremely ambitious.

They had never sent anything to Mars, they had no experience.

They are the first in the world who from the first attempt launched an orbiter, a rover and a lander at the same time.

"

Congratulations to CNSA's # Tianwen1 team for the successful landing of China's first Mars exploration rover, #Zhurong!

Together with the global science community, I look forward to the important contributions this mission will make to humanity's understanding of the Red Planet.

pic.twitter.com/KexElIu8OH

- Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) May 15, 2021

A partner left in the dark

Like the American Viking missions of 1976, the Tianwen-1 probe, placed in orbit in February, spent several weeks studying the landing conditions and finding the ideal site, with as few rocks as possible.

"This late choice comes from the fact that the Chinese did not have very good cameras in orbit, such as Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter", notes Francis Rocard.

The Zhurong robot landed in the great plains of the north of the planet, a region that limited the risks.

“The Utopia Planitia site has two advantages.

Its altitude is very low which facilitates landing, allowing time to brake.

And it's extraordinarily flat, far from the cratered plateaus.

"

To the procrastination on the place was added the mystery about the date.

For a long time, the officially envisaged window stretched between mid-May and June.

After 24 hours of rumors, the Chinese Space Administration (CNSA) finally issued a short statement Friday morning.

"Tianwen-1 will choose an opportunity to land in the near future," said the agency, which announced a range stretching from May 15 to 19.

At that time, even the French astrophysicist Sylvestre Maurice, who nevertheless contributes to the mission, had been left in the dark.

“I don't even know when it arises, which is not healthy and what worries me a bit about our collaboration with them.

The Chinese scientists we work with don't want to tell us.

It's really complicated.

They are still under secrecy, ”he confided to us.

No return of samples

France is the only country to have participated in the realization of the Zhurong instruments, China having equipped its robot with a ChemCam replica, the Curiosity laser camera.

“It's an assumed copy, with Chinese rhetoric that says: I do you an honor to copy yourself!

», Smiles the researcher from the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (Irap).

As for the European Space Agency (ESA), it made its network of antennas available to China until Tianwen-1 entered orbit.

For China, this mission is primarily used to test several capabilities, land on Mars and order tools. Unlike Perseverance, Zhurong does not have a manipulator arm. The measurements are therefore carried out remotely. The return of Martian rocks, it will be for another time ... "If the mission is a success, they will certainly plan a return of samples. You have to see the speed of acquisition of all these technologies by China. For her, it is important to show that she has mastered them ”, commented shortly before the event Karl Bergquist, ESA administrator in charge of cooperation with China.

Even if it means staying hungry for the advancement of knowledge? This is what Francis Rocard predicts: “The scientific return of Chinese missions, lunar missions for example, is not extraordinary. They don't have the best instruments yet. It's hard to really do new science with what they have. It's a beginning. "