back to article Pics or it didn't happen: First images from China's Mars rover suggest nothing has gone Zhurong just yet

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has released images and video snapped during the landing process and checkout of its Zhurong Mars rover. The rover made a successful landing on 15 May but, unlike the white-knuckle livestreams of NASA, very little information has been shared since. Certainly nothing like the …

  1. DarkwavePunk
    Pint

    Good to see.

    Someone recently said something along the lines of "I'd prefer a public failure in a space mission to a secretive success".

    Glad to see at least some albeit partial information about this landing. I hope the science is shared.

    Beer for boffins as always --->

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: Good to see.

      Someone recently said something along the lines of "I'd prefer a public failure in a space mission to a secretive success".

      I guess he doesn't remember when Soviet launches were mentioned-in-passing by the CIA 3 or 4 years after they happened. Now I watch them live on YouTube and it's still somewhat of a surprise.

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Good to see.

      yes - beer for the boffins!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Re: Good to see.

      Tsingtaos for all.

      As far as science the Chinese space agency does seem to be doing this.They have already put a plan in place to share the moon rocks that Chang'e 5 returned with scientists around the world.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Good to see. Maybe. China wouldn't fake images? Shurely?!

      They might be real.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/2534499/Beijing-Olympic-2008-opening-ceremony-giant-firework-footprints-faked.html

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-fake-idUSSP2154320080815

      Hey forced labour isn't just about making stuff - maybe they get to draw pictures too!

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51697800

  2. NicX

    "It is also the first nation to land a Mars rover on its first attempt."

    Pathfinder and Sojourner would like to have a word with you.

    1. MajDom

      Why not Viking 1 and 2? Happened 46 years ago. Was US' first attempt to land a craft on Mars, far as I recall. With 1975 technology.

      One can only shake one's head at all this desperate propaganda

      1. KarMann Silver badge
        WTF?

        Because 'rover', not 'lander', was specified. Now, why specify 'rover' not 'lander', there's another question.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Likewise, "China is only the third nation to have successfully managed a soft landing on Mars after the Soviet Union and United States."

          I'm not sure we can really call 110 seconds of operation after lander a "success" for the Soviet Union unless someone can prove that the failure wasn't caused by the landing. That it landed and managed to operate for 110 seconds using the technology of the day was an great achievement, but not really a success in terms of an operable lander.

        2. FIA Silver badge

          Because 'rover', not 'lander', was specified. Now, why specify 'rover' not 'lander', there's another question.

          Because, as pointed out, that would be incorrect.

          It is okay to celebrate the achievements of others you know. :)

    2. el_oscuro
      Mushroom

      Wait until Opportunity tracks it down.

      https://xkcd.com/1504/

  3. wolfetone Silver badge
    Coat

    Cold War II in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE....

    or at least MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARS

    1. Flywheel
      Mushroom

      Re: Cold War II in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE....

      How the heck are they going to get all those ultra-rare new minerals back to earth? Who knows, they may even find a rich seam of Unobtanium!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Cold War II in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE....

        Who said anything about coming back? Once they've found the water and built the underground bunkers they can just hunker down and wait for the dust to settle after Climate Change, WW3, Pandemic (insert Home Bake or Take Out Apocalypse of Choice) before thinking about coming back. Plenty of time to work up a new edition of the Little Red Book from the Little Red Planet!

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Pirate

      Re: Cold War II in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE....

      Heh - ours has a laser AND a helicopter

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @wolfetone - Re: Cold War II in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE....

      No, it's still Cold War I. If I remember correctly it never ended.

    4. el_oscuro

      Re: Cold War II in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE....

      SpaceX's entire corporate mission:

      https://youtu.be/53ARrp7x4bQ?t=107

    5. Hubert Thrunge Jr.

      Re: Cold War II in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE....

      Ak Ak! Ak ak AK!!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mars Robot Wars!

    Now we just need Craig Charles to host and we can have a robot war on Mars!

    Let the wars begin!

    1. harmjschoonhoven

      Re: Mars Robot Wars!

      I 'll wait till the first semiconductors run of an assembly line on Mars.

      Be careful not to stir up all that dust while digging for your minerals.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nothing there...

    It's a shame that there's nothing much to do now that they've got there.

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Nothing there...

      actually I was hoping they'd do "confirmation" and additional science that the others have not yet done (for whatever reason), then the data is shared around the world so scientists can mull over it for years to come.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Nothing there...

        I doubt there's much mulling to do over the results of fairly limited geological survey tools. It's actually planned to do what previous missions have done with the laser spectrometry stuff. I don't think they have a single original experiment on board.

        What data are you eagerly awaiting?

        I quite like The Planets.

        ..and disagreeing with sycophantic fanboys doesn't make me a troll.

        1. terrythetech

          Re: Nothing there...

          FFS - space exploration is incremental. This is just the prototype, and it is a success.

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

            Re: Nothing there...

            It's also in a geologically different part of the planet. It's not like you drill for oil here on Earth and if you don't find any, give up because obviously there is no oil anywhere, eh? :-)

    2. DarkwavePunk

      Re: Nothing there...

      You really don't like Mars do you?

      We can send sciencey thingy whatsits to another planet and gather information snuffling around to not only ken the formation of rocky planets, but the solar system itself.

      Were you forced to listen to the first suite of Holst's "The Planets" on loop as a swaddling?

      1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

        Re: Nothing there...

        He appears to profoundly dislike the idea of people doing things that don't personally interest him.

        1. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge

          Re: Nothing there...

          I believe it's the tired old trope of why spend money sending stuff to other planets using public money while our own planet has so many problems etc. I think specifically it's the public money aspect that galls him so, but ISTR he has similar views on SpaceX (which also receives some public money by way of NASA contracts).

          Ignores the fact that the money spent on these projects won't even scratch the surface of fixing the myriad problems here on Earth, and also the fact that, well, different groups of people are generally allowed to work on different things for the overall advancement of human knowledge.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nothing there...

      There'll be a take-away open as soon as the rover gets moving.

    4. jake Silver badge

      Re: Nothing there...

      PDNFTT. Ta.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They lied about COVID

    And we're expected to believe them about their Mars mission?

    1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      Re: They lied about COVID

      We knew about the landing before they announced it, due to changes in the doppler shift of the signals their probe was sending back to earth. It's difficult to hide things in space. Much easier on earth.

      1. chrisw67

        Re: They lied about COVID

        Citation please.

        1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

          Re: They lied about COVID

          I had a look, and it appears I was wrong. The Doppler shift change was recorded when the probe entered orbit around mars. I was sure I'd read that it was when the probe began it's descent, but oh well

          1. chrisw67

            Re: They lied about COVID

            It's all good. Independent verification of anything China does in space is a challenge.

    2. very angry man

      Re: They lied about COVID

      They are all going to meet up for coffee and Berger's at McDonald's, or just use the drive through

      1. Kibble 2
        Thumb Up

        Re: They lied about COVID

        I'd suggest Bob's Burgers as it's dine in.

    3. jake Silver badge

      Re: They lied about COVID

      What is it about articles like this that brings out the loons?

      1. Dagg Silver badge

        Re: They lied about COVID

        Irony, sarcasm anyone..

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: They lied about COVID

        It's a fait accompli that the CCP covered up the pandemic during its initial stages, first at a regional then national level. During that time travel to and from China was completely unrestricted, seeding the virus across the planet.

        Even if you accept the official explanation of the virus originating from the Wuhan wet markets, what steps have the CCP put in place to stop this kind of thing happening again? Have such markets and the storage of live exotic animals been banned? Have transparent bio monitoring and reporting procedures been implemented?

        No, of course not! It's business as usual. Secrecy, obfuscation and cover up. China held to account by no one and the rest of the world left to pick up the pieces.

        So I'm sorry "jake", history tells us that a healthy dose of scepticism about any news emanating from the CCP is anything but a sign of lunacy.

        1. zuckzuckgo Silver badge

          Re: They lied about COVID

          > a healthy dose of scepticism

          But what is the right dose? Being overly skeptical of your competitors/enemies capabilities can just leave you vulnerable when you don't invest to compete.

          When it comes to science, China has just as much incentive to hide or understate their capabilities as to overstate them. When it is about internal domestic politics they have little reason to tell us the truth.

        2. Charlie Clark Silver badge
          Stop

          Re: They lied about COVID

          Rinse and repeat for pretty much any communicable disease from anywhere in the last 50 years: no one wants to be responsible.

    4. Mark Exclamation

      Re: They lied about COVID

      Good to know that all that landing information they stole from NASA's servers actually worked for them.

  7. cjcox

    Picture confirmed

    Huawei has also confirmed that they received the picture at the same time. All is working well.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So

    China now has a TV studio that looks like the surface of Mars?

    (disappointed that after 20 comments, no other commentard had already made this joke. sigh. Has El Reg's readership gotten too serious? )

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