China's Zhurong Mars Rover sends first selfie from Mars

Beijing : China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) first Mars rover Zhurong has sent its first selfie from Mars, where he can be seen settling in quite comfortably after landing on the planet last month.

In the picture, the rover can be seen spreading its solar panel wings while its two cameras appear on the front side. The pictures have been shared by CNSA on their website.

The selfie was a part of the unveiling ceremony where CNSA released the first batch of scientific images taken by the Tianwen-1 rover on the Martian surface. In the group of pictures, a panoramic view of the landing site has been revealed. The Chinese space agency dubbed the Zhurong selfie as the “tour group photo."

In its description, CNSA revealed that the Zhurong selfie was taken after the rover travelled about 10 meters south of the landing platform. To capture the image, the rover released a separate camera installed at the bottom of the vehicle. After releasing the camera, the rover retreated to the vicinity of the landing platform as the camera took pictures of the movement of the rover and the landing platform. CNSA mentioned that the image was transmitted to Zhurong through wireless signal, and then relayed back to the Earth by the rover through the orbiter. 

China’s rover is the third such mission to Mars this year. The first two were by Saudi Arabia’s Hope Probe and the United States’ Perseverance mission.

Tianwen-1 rover had landed on Mars on May 15. Post-landing, the first picture from the rover was shared by the space agency last month.