Deployment
Zhurong Rover at Mars
China's first Mars rover (Tianwen-1; landed Utopia Planitia 2021-05-14, drove off 2021-05-22). Operated by ground command with twin-rover path rehearsal on Earth; no autonomous hazard-avoidance system is documented in available sources (verified-vs-claimed: do not overstate as autonomous). Entered planned hibernation 2022-05-18 and never re-established contact (solar-panel dust suspected); presumed lost.
Zhurong Rover by China National Space Administration · Operated by China National Space Administration · Catalog entry · 1 source · not yet field-verified
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /deployments/zhurong-mars-utopia-planitia.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/robots/f691e13a-18e9-4796-a6b5-e01e394d22da
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Key facts
- Mission
- Tianwen-1
- Site
- Utopia Planitia (landed 2021-05-14, drove off 2021-05-22)
- Outcome
- Hibernated 2022-05-18; never re-established contact, presumed lost (solar-panel dust)
- Trust tier
- Catalog entry · 1 source · not yet field-verified
- Last updated
- 2026-06-06
- Model
- Zhurong Rover
- Company
- China National Space Administration
- Location
- Mars
- Operator
- China National Space Administration
- Status
- ended
- First seen
- 2021-05-22
- ID
f691e13a-18e9-4796-a6b5-e01e394d22da
Sources (1)
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-06-06
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-06-06
Maturity + lifecycle
Maturity stage: research
Lifecycle: discontinued
Architectural position
Cohort: space
Sources by quality tier
- 1
- knowledge-base
- Knowledge base
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Zhurong Rover at Mars.Common questions
- What is the Zhurong Rover deployment at Mars?
- Zhurong Rover, built by China National Space Administration, is recorded as a deployment at Mars on the DEPLOY registry. China National Space Administration operates the deployment directly.
- Who operates Zhurong Rover at Mars?
- China National Space Administration, the manufacturer of Zhurong Rover, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.
- When did the Zhurong Rover deployment at Mars go live?
- The deployment is recorded as starting May 22, 2021 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.
- Is the Zhurong Rover deployment at Mars still active?
- As of the most recent verification on the DEPLOY registry, this deployment is no longer operating at this location.
- Have there been incidents at the Zhurong Rover deployment at Mars?
- No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.
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