One of the first images sent by the Zhurong rover, which landed last May 15 on Mars, is a ‘selfie’ that portrays him together with his lander. A photo that hides a small (but innovative) curiosity, as it was taken by a wireless camera transported to the red planet by Zhurong. In practice, the Chinese rover placed it on the ground, 10 meters away from the landing point, and then went back to “pose”. The camera transmitted the shot to the rover which then sent it to Chinese scientists on Earth.
This is the first time this technology has been used by a Mars rover. All the selfies we have seen in the past, which portrayed the US rovers Opportunity, Curiosity and then Perseverance, were obtained from the union of several images: an indispensable collage to cut the robotic arm on which the camera is positioned out of the photo. The Perseverance selfie of April 2021 for example, in which the small Ingenuity drone also appeared, required the union of 62 different shots that arrived on Earth.
In the video released by CNSA, the Chinese Space Agency, other curiosities derived from the shots taken by Zhurong: for example the drawing attached to the lander, near the country’s red flag, on which the mascots of the Beijing 2022 Olympics and Paralympics are portrayed. .