China's Mars Rover's Status Unknown on 2nd Anniversary as NASA Orbiter Detects Months of Inactivity

China's Tianwen-1 mission celebrates two years in Martian orbit, as China remains silent on status of their Zhurong rover as NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals the rover has not moved for months.

Last Status Update

The Zhurong rover entered a planned hibernation in May 2022 due to reduced solar power available during the winter in Mars' northern hemisphere. It was expected to wake up in December 2022, around the time of Spring solstice in the northern hemisphere, when temperatures and light levels reached levels suffisent for the rover’s battery and solar arrays to generate sufficient electrical power.

However, China's space authorities have remained silent about if the rover emerged from hibernation.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera has captured images of the rover on March 11, 2022, September 8, 2022 and February 7, 2023.

The pictures reveal that China's solar-powered Zhurong rover has remained stationary since at least September 2022

The South China Morning Post reported in Janurary, citing sources that do not wish to be named, that teams on Earth have yet to receive a signal from Zhurong an that teams were expected to "dispatch Tianwen-1 orbiter to check on the solar-powered robot"

The Mission

China's Tianwen-1 mission launched in July 2020 as one of three missions during the prime Martian transfer window. Tianwen-1 arrived at Mars in February 2021, along with NASA's Perseverance rover and the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Hope orbiter.

The mission consists of an orbiter, a lander, and the Zhurong rover and was China's first independent interplanetary mission, a significant step towards its goal of becoming a major player in space exploration.

The Zhurong rover was designed to explore the Martian surface, collect samples, and study the planet's geology and atmosphere. It was also intended to search for signs of ancient life on Mars.

Although its primary mission lifetime was three Earth months, Zhurong, the Chinese Mars rover, operated for a little over one Earth year on the Martian surface, covering at least 1,921 meters south from its landing site. The rover achieved its primary science goals and was pursuing geological targets, including mud volcanoes, during its extended mission before entering hibernation.

The Tianwen-1 orbiter was said to be functioning well, having also completed its primary science objectives, according to the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST).