Sébastien Le Belzic (correspondent in China), edited by Romain Rouillard
The small explorer robot launched on Mars by China a year ago has revealed its first secrets. In particular, it reveals the presence of “recent” liquid water on the red planet, which could mean the existence of Martian life over the last billion years. Beijing is investing colossal sums in the conquest of space.
The Chine continues its space conquest. More than a year ago, Beijing placed a probe and a small robot on Mars. The latter has just revealed the presence ofliquid water “recent” on the red planet. A discovery that could reveal the existence of a former life on Mars.
After more than a year criss-crossing the star, the Chinese rover Zhurong has traveled less than 2km but has already accumulated a wealth of data. Some suggest that water existed on Mars a billion years ago. Previous studies estimated that Martian water disappeared about 3 billion years ago.
Billions of euros invested
“If there was water, we can assume that the atmosphere was suitable for the origin of life or that the weather conditions on Mars were favorable during the last billion years”, indicates this researcher to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Hydrated minerals had not been detected by previous orbiters. Zhurong’s data is therefore very important and the robot will continue its exploration of the Red Planet for some time to come. China has invested billions of euros in its space program and landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon for the first time in 2019.
In 2020, China reported moon samples and the following year, she therefore landed this little robot on Mars. Beijing now plans to send men to the moon by 2030.