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Chinese scientists scramble to wake Mars rover, plan to send probe to investigate, sources say
- China still waiting for signal from Zhurong, which was supposed to power on after sleeping through red planet’s sandstorm season
- Space authorities are expected to dispatch Tianwen-1 orbiter to check on the solar-powered robot, according to people familiar with the mission
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Scientists are still waiting for a signal from China’s Mars rover, which was expected to wake from hibernation last month, according to two sources familiar with the country’s Mars exploration programme.
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The solar-powered Zhurong switched to sleep mode in May so it could wait out the red planet’s cold winter and fierce sandstorms.
The Post independently confirmed with two sources on Thursday that the rover should have resumed running by now, but no contact has been established.
Scientists are scrambling to find out what happened, but “most likely the sandstorms have seriously weakened Zhurong’s capacity to use its solar panels to generate power”, said one source based in Xichang in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The sources said Chinese space authorities planned to send the Tianwen-1 probe – now circling Mars in an elliptical orbit – to take pictures of the rover, which is south of its landing site in a large plain known as Utopia Planitia.
However, a Beijing-based source said ground control had encountered difficulty when downloading the latest data from the orbiting probe, which is equipped with two cameras.
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Both sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
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