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China releases more images & videos from Zhurong

Zhurong panorama looking north, June 27, 2021
Click for full image.

Overview map
Click for full image.

China today released a new panorama as well as several videos taken by its Mars rover Zhurong.

The videos show the rover’s landing as well as two short videos taken from the remote camera it had dropped off shortly after deployment from its lander, the first showing the rover moving away and the second showing it turning in place.. China also released sound recorded during that deployment, as the rover rolled down the ramps. The sound was of course enhanced, but it does allow scientists to learn something about the atmosphere of Mars.

The image above is a cropped section from the panorama. The map to the right, taken on June 11th by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), has been annotated by me to show the area I think is seen by this section of that panorama, looking due north. (For a higher resolution version that clearly shows the rover’s tracks since leaving the lander, go here.)

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • Lee Stevenson

    You have to give it to the Chinese… The idea to have a little selfie camera to drop off and take genuine selfies of the lander and rover might have very little scientific value, but from a PR perspective it is pure genius! I know many here have problems with the Chinese, and for many good reasons, but put that aside for a few moments and just enjoy these super-cool images and clips! ( From Mars!!! From bloody Mars!!)

  • Jeff Wright

    It is good to see assets working.

    I have often wanted two rockets to launch together so as to see a side view of an entire mission

  • Col Beausabre

    What amazes me is how realistic these photos are, you’d think they had actually been taken on Mars!

  • wayne

    Col Beausabre–

    “…and receiving the Oscar in the Best Special FXs category is….Disney, Industrial Light & Magic, and the Chinese Communist Party.”

  • Starbird

    Theres a old movie from the 1960’s Robinson Cuirso on Mars with Paul Mantee,Adam WEst and Vic Lundin

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