Europe and China Collaborate on Mars Mission

While the space race gains a new dimension every year with the developing technology, Mars explorations continue without slowing down. China’s first Mars rover “Zhurong” It also landed on the planet’s surface in May this year. The exploration vehicle, which shared images and strange sounds from the surface of Mars during its mission, Tianwen 1 It was transported to Earth by orbital vehicle.

However, different plans were developed for Tianwen 1 in November. The orbiter’s communication with Zhurong, which is currently tasked with mapping the Martian surface, has also been greatly reduced. As such, in order to carry the data obtained from the surface of the reconnaissance vehicle to Earth. an alternative way had to be followed. The European Space Agency (ESA), working in partnership with China in this area, was instrumental in carrying Zhurong’s data to Earth.

Joint tasks may continue in the future:

Mars exploration vehicles usually communicate and share data with an orbiter by two-way messaging. ESA’s orbiter “Mars Express” It also became the vehicle for China’s reconnaissance vehicle. However, according to the statements made, the communication between Mars Express and Zhurong could only be carried out unilaterally. Because the signals sent by the ESA orbiter could not be detected by the reconnaissance vehicle. Performing data transfer with signals that Mars Express can read, Zhurong completed this task after four attempts. successfully completed.

On this mission, which took place on November 20, ESA’s orbiter 233 kilobytes of data transferred. European Space Agency engineer Gerhard Billig, who shares that the data obtained by Mars Express is of extremely good quality and has been successfully delivered to Earth, states that they will be happy to conduct such joint studies in future space missions.