The latest data from Zhurong shows that the Martian landscape has signs of erosion by water

Last year, NASA's Perseverance rover collected its first Martian rock sample. The scientists' final analysis showed that water was present in Mars' Jezero Crater for "a very long time" -- tens of thousands or millions of years. This, in turn, suggests that Mars' water is stable enough that life may have once existed.

"New Scientist" weekly reported that China's Zhurong rover also found signs of water shaping the Martian landscape.

China's Zhurong rover landed in May 2021 on the Utopia Plain, a large plain in the northern lowlands of Mars.

The report pointed out that preliminary data collected by Zhurong shows that the Utopia Plain has been affected by wind for a long time in the past, and may even have been eroded by water. These preliminary data were analyzed by Ding Liang and colleagues at Harbin Institute of Technology in China.

The data showed that many of the rocks found around the rover's landing site had etch marks and grooves on one side, suggesting they must have been eroded by strong wind and sand, and some rocks had a flaky texture, which usually occurs with water. produced by interaction.

Joel Davies, from the Natural History Museum, London, UK, said: "What's really exciting is that many scientists believe that the Utopian Plains may have hosted an ancient ocean of liquid water billions of years ago. As Zhurong continues Exploration, and hopefully it will help answer this question that has puzzled scientists for decades."

The latest data from Zhurong shows that the Martian landscape has signs of erosion by water

my country's Tianwen-1 "Zhurong" rover has carried out a number of explorations on Mars, and my country will go further in Mars exploration in the future. The official said that it plans to realize the Mars sampling return mission by 2030.

According to Wu Weiren, the difficulty of this project is much greater than that of lunar sampling and return. The first problem to be solved is to develop a launch vehicle with greater thrust. In the follow-up, China is also preparing to conduct marginal exploration of the solar system.

"The sun is about 150 million kilometers from the earth, which is an astronomical unit. We plan to achieve the 'double hundred' goal in 2049, that is, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of New China, to complete 100 astronomical units, which is 15 billion kilometers away deep space exploration."

my country's first Mars exploration mission successfully landed on Mars on May 15, 2021. Zhurong was not designed to return, so it will serve over a period of time after its design life.