Today, rovers from two nations are exploring the surface of Mars, wielding the tools needed to explore rocks as they go. As we’ve discussed pretty extensively, Mars Perseverance, the NASA-led rover, is in Jezero crater collecting rocks. Now, we are pleased to say, the recently landed Chinese rover, Zhurong, is departing its landing platform and exploring the soils of Utopia Planitia on a mission to look for life.

Zhurong isn’t China’s only recent rover. On the Moon, a series of Chang’e rovers are exploring progressively harder to get to sites, and recently the Chang’e 5 mission even returned a lunar rock sample. This mission landed in Oceanus Procellarum – the dark Mare sea – near Mons Rumker, an extinct volcano on the northwest edge of the visible face of the Moon. In addition to collecting rocks, the mission also explored its surroundings and sent back science data. Now, some of the more interesting features are getting names. Specifically, we can now introduce the landing site, Statio Tianchuan, mountains Mons Hua and Mons Heng, and the craters Pei Xiu, Shen Kuo, Liu Hui, Song Yingxing, and Xu Guanqui.

More Information

China’s Mars rover touches ground on red planet (AP)

Eight Names Approved for the Moon (IAU)