China Becomes Second Country in History to Land on Mars

China successfully landed a rover on Mars this weekend becoming the second country in history to do so. The rover Zhurong which was named after the God of fire in Chinese mythology touched down Saturday morning. The rover weighs about 529 pounds and carries 6 scientific instruments. It will soon be deployed for a three-month mission to search for signs and evidence of life on Mars.

The Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter which was launched on July 23rd of last year spent 7 months before entering Mars’ orbit in February will relay it’s signal to the rover and conduct a global survey of the planet for one martian year. The probe spent three months surveying the landing area before releasing the rover.