Named after the Chinese god of fire, Zhurong, the rover is expected to be deployed for 90 days to search of evidence of life.
BEIJING — China’s first Mars rover has driven down from its landing platform and is now roaming the surface of the red planet, China’s space administration said Saturday. The solar-powered rover touched Martian soil at 10:40 a.m. Saturday Beijing time (0240 GMT), the China National Space Administration said. China landed the spacecraft carrying the rover on Mars last Saturday, a technically challenging feat more difficult than a moon landing, in a first for the country. It is the second country to land and operate a spacecraft on Mars, after the United States. Named after the Chinese god of fire, Zhurong, the rover was running diagnostics tests for several days before it began its exploration Saturday.
