From Space.com….
China’s first rover on Mars, the six-wheeled Zhurong, rolled onto the Red Planet’s surface late Friday (May 21) to begin exploring its new home: the vast Martian plain of Utopia Planitia.
Zhurong, which landed on Mars a week earlier on May 14, drove on to the Martian surface from its landing platform at 10:40 p.m. EDT on Friday (10:40 a.m. Saturday, May 22 Beijing Time). It is expected to spend the next 90 days mapping the area, searching for signs of water ice, monitoring weather and studying the surface composition.
Photos from Zhurong released by the China National Space Administration show views from the rover’s navigation cameras. In one image, the rover is still atop its lander and looking down at the twin ramps it took to roll onto the Martian surface. A second photo looks back at Zhurong’s three-legged lander, which delivered the rover to the Martian surface last week.
