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The Latest First Glimpse
May. 19th, 2021 08:38 pmThe first reports that China’s Mars rover had made a successful landing on the red planet, managing on the first try what the Soviet Union and the European Space Agency never quite did over several attempts each, got my attention. Before I quite got around to putting a few thoughts together and posting it here, though, I got to thinking it would be nice to see the first pictures from its own landing point. There could be some dangerous tinge of “now provide the proof,” I suppose.
After a few days of waiting, though, pictures were released at last today. The first thing I noticed was that despite Zhurong landing in the same general region as Viking 2 at Utopia Planitia, its landing site seems far from the “rock-strewn environment” both Vikings embedded in my mind for two decades before Mars Pathfinder reinforced that impression. As with Perseverance and Inspiration (which is now stretching its flights beyond first plans), I’ll have to try and see if I keep noticing more reports.
After a few days of waiting, though, pictures were released at last today. The first thing I noticed was that despite Zhurong landing in the same general region as Viking 2 at Utopia Planitia, its landing site seems far from the “rock-strewn environment” both Vikings embedded in my mind for two decades before Mars Pathfinder reinforced that impression. As with Perseverance and Inspiration (which is now stretching its flights beyond first plans), I’ll have to try and see if I keep noticing more reports.