--- title: "China Refuses to Say Whether Its Mars Rover Is Dead" description: "China's Zhurong Mars rover and its makers have remained unusually silent about the fate of the rover. It hasn't moved since September." date: "2023-02-22" modified: "2023-02-22" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-refuses-mars-rover-dead" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "Space" tags: - "china" - "mars" - "the digest" - "tianwen-1" - "zhurong" --- # China Refuses to Say Whether Its Mars Rover Is Dead ![China's Zhurong Mars rover and its makers have remained unusually silent about the fate of the rover. It hasn't moved since September.]() *\Image: CNSA\* ## Missing in Action China's Tianwen-1 mission to Mars was off to a great start. The mission's lander [touched down]() on the surface in May 2021, followed by the deployment of the mission's Zhurong rover a week later. Roughly a year later, Zhurong [entered hibernation mode]() due to dwindling solar power supplies, in preparation for Martian winter. While the rover was meant to autonomously wake back up in December, Zhurong and its team have remained unusually silent about its fate, [*Space.com* reports]() — and given the [Chinese government's secrecy]() around these matters, it's unlikely we'll be getting an answer any time soon. In other words, we can only hazard a guess as to what the status of Zhurong is right now. ## Quiet Rover We've heard very little in the past couple of months about the rover. In early January, unnamed sources [told the *South China Morning Post*]() that teams back on Earth had [yet to receive a signal](). Earlier this month, state-controlled media also shared a brief [celebration of the mission's two years in Martian orbit](), and only barely made mention of the rover. We do know, however, thanks to recent images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, that Zhurong [hasn't moved from its hibernation spot]() in the planet's Utopia Planitia region since at least September 2022. Zhurong was only to jump back into action if temperatures were above five degrees Fahrenheit and it was able to generate 140 watts of power. Unlike its many predecessors, which relied on radioisotope heater units to stay warm, Zhurong used a chemical called n-undecane to store heat energy, according to *Space.com*. Apart from Zhurong's unknown fate, Tianwen-1 still represents a huge success for China, which became only the second country to both land and successfully remotely control a rover on the Red Planet. **READ MORE:** [China silent on fate of Zhurong Mars rover on 2nd anniversary of Tianwen-1 mission]() \[Space.com\] **More on Zhurong:** *[Something Is Reportedly Wrong With China's Mars Rover]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()