BEIJING, May 22 (Xinhua): China's first Mars rover, Zhurong, drove down from its landing platform to the Martian surface on Saturday, leaving the country's first "footprints" on the red planet.
Zhurong's first successful drive made China the second country after the United States to land and operate a rover on Mars.
The six-wheeled solar-powered rover, resembling a blue butterfly and with a mass of 240 kg, slowly trundled off a ramp on the lander to hit the red, sandy soil of Mars, starting its journey to explore the fourth planet from the sun.
According to the telemetry data, Zhurong set its wheels on Martian soil at 10:40 a.m. (Beijing Time) on Saturday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.