by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

The Chinese government-owned CGTN website has an interview with Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin. With relations severely damaged with the West due to sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Roscosmos is increasingly focused on deepening cooperation with China’s surging space program. The partnership already includes jointly developing a crewed base on the moon in the 2030s.

On the suspended ExoMars mission with Europe, Rogozin said:

“In the construction of ExoMars, the main element is the landing module. The Mars research rover is not the essential element. I think we can make this mission happen with another partner like China or someone else.”

BEIJING (CNSA PR) — The China National Space Administration published on Saturday four pictures taken by its Tianwen 1 Mars mission, including the first full photo of the mission orbiter.

The color pictures show the orbiter flying around the Red Planet in an orbit, the ice cover on Mars’ north pole and a scene of a barren Martian plain.

BEIJING (CNSA PR) — Zhurong, rover of China’s first interplanetary probe mission Tianwen-1, has worked on Mars surface for 100 days as of Monday, and has driven 1,064 meters south from its landing point.

BEIJING (China National Space Administration PR) — China’s Mars rover Zhurong has outlived its three-month life expectancy with all of its predetermined tasks completed, according to the China National Space Administration.

BEIJING (CNSA PR) — On June 11, at the unveiling ceremony of the first batch of scientific images of the Tianwen-1 rover landing on Mars in Beijing, the panoramic view of the landing site, the topography of Mars, the “Chinese imprint” and the photographs such as a group photo with a tour. The release of the first batch of scientific image maps marked the complete success of China’s first Mars exploration mission.

BEIJING (CNSA PR) — Judging from the telemetry data, at 10:40 on May 22, the Zhurong rover had safely left the landing platform, reached the surface of Mars, and began to patrol and explore. The scientific goal of the Tianwen-1 mission is to study the morphology and geological structure characteristics of Mars, the characteristics of the soil on the surface of Mars and the distribution of water ice, the composition […]

China released the first photographs of its Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars. The vehicle landed on the Red Planet’s Utopia Planitia on May 14. China is the third nation after the Soviet Union and the United States to land on Mars. China also released animated gif images of the Zhurong lander separating from the Tianwen-1 orbiter. Zhurong will explore Mars with six instruments: ground-penetrating radar (GPR) capable of imaging […]