China Releases Video and Audio Footage From Its Rover on Mars (spacenews.com) 86
"China has released landing process footage from its Zhurong rover as well as video and sounds of the vehicle roving on Mars," reports Space News:
Footage of the entry, descent and landing shows deployment of a supersonic disk-gap-band parachute, separation of the backshell, followed by powered descent, a hazard-avoidance hover phase, and landing... Video of the descent of the Zhurong rover from its landing platform, including sounds made by the vehicle's egress, was included in the release. The sounds were created by the metal on metal interaction of a rack and pinion system and recorded by Zhurong's climate station, which intends to capture sounds of Martian winds... The 240-kilogram Zhurong rover successfully landed in Utopia Planitia on May 14.
The deployment took place late May 21 Eastern, following a week-long series of checks and analysis of the environment. The six-wheeled, solar-powered Zhurong has since covered 236 meters on the Martian surface. An undated panorama shows Zhurong and tracks leading back to the landing platform, along with surface and horizon features...
The rover is part of the Tianwen-1 mission, China's first independent interplanetary mission. Consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, Tianwen-1 launched in July 2020. It entered Mars orbit February 10. Zhurong is equipped with six science payloads, including a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy instrument for analysing surface elements and minerals, panoramic and multispectral imagers, a climate station, magnetometer and a ground-penetrating radar. It aims to return data on potential water-ice deposits, weather, topography and geology, complementing science carried out by missions from other space agencies.
The Tianwen-1 orbiter is currently in an 8.2-hour orbit, allowing a pass over Utopia Planitia once per sol to perform a data relay role. Zhurong has a primary mission and design lifetime of 90 sols (92 Earth days). It is currently unknown if Zhurong's mission will be extended beyond this.
Engadget argues that this footage from Mars "is as much about bragging rights as anything. Zhurong is part of China's first truly independent mission to another planet, and the country no doubt wants to highlight its accomplishments in as much detail as possible."
The deployment took place late May 21 Eastern, following a week-long series of checks and analysis of the environment. The six-wheeled, solar-powered Zhurong has since covered 236 meters on the Martian surface. An undated panorama shows Zhurong and tracks leading back to the landing platform, along with surface and horizon features...
The rover is part of the Tianwen-1 mission, China's first independent interplanetary mission. Consisting of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, Tianwen-1 launched in July 2020. It entered Mars orbit February 10. Zhurong is equipped with six science payloads, including a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy instrument for analysing surface elements and minerals, panoramic and multispectral imagers, a climate station, magnetometer and a ground-penetrating radar. It aims to return data on potential water-ice deposits, weather, topography and geology, complementing science carried out by missions from other space agencies.
The Tianwen-1 orbiter is currently in an 8.2-hour orbit, allowing a pass over Utopia Planitia once per sol to perform a data relay role. Zhurong has a primary mission and design lifetime of 90 sols (92 Earth days). It is currently unknown if Zhurong's mission will be extended beyond this.
Engadget argues that this footage from Mars "is as much about bragging rights as anything. Zhurong is part of China's first truly independent mission to another planet, and the country no doubt wants to highlight its accomplishments in as much detail as possible."
Just like the 1960s all over again (Score:5, Insightful)
Nothing like a space-race and a cold war to bring back feelings of nostalgia.
Just like the 1960s and the race between the USA and Soviet Union.
Ah... happy days!
Re:Just like the 1960s all over again (Score:5, Funny)
Looking forward to the Taiwanese Missile Crisis myself.
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Nothing invigorates the exploration of space like technological race between would be Superpowers.
Interestingly enough, in the last one, the the Soviets [bbc.com] were the first to the moon by several years. Though, for optics, the nation with first boots on the ground is remembered as the winner of that particular Space Race.
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Nothing invigorates the exploration of space like technological race between would be Superpowers.
Interestingly enough, in the last one, the the Soviets [bbc.com] were the first to the moon by several years. Though, for optics, the nation with first boots on the ground is remembered as the winner of that particular Space Race.
That was Kennedy's challenge. "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth."
Yeah - it wasn't to send robotic machines to the moon, it was landing and returning humans.
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Both China and the US have set their sights on manned missions to Mars by the 2030s, although with no firm dates and no clear details such as if a landing will be made.
The space race was an odd one. The US was putting massive resources into reaching the moon first, while the Soviets were less interested. They tried but there was nothing like the Apollo programme, no massive expenditure of resources or dedicated programme with that singular goal in mind.
It will be interesting to see if this "not a space race
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Both China and the US have set their sights on manned missions to Mars by the 2030s, although with no firm dates and no clear details such as if a landing will be made.
The space race was an odd one. The US was putting massive resources into reaching the moon first, while the Soviets were less interested. They tried but there was nothing like the Apollo programme, no massive expenditure of resources or dedicated programme with that singular goal in mind.
It will be interesting to see if this "not a space race" we are in now produces results. I hope I get to see a human on Mars in my lifetime.
Well, Ol' Muskie says there will be a million people there by 2050.
But on to more realistic things, We here in the US seem to need a prod to get going, then we go nuts once we do. Thet's pretty much how the 50's 60's space race went.
Russia was making hay over the things they were doing. When it started out, when Sputnik was launched, there was the science aspect, but also the strategic aspect Sputnik could just as well be a nuke.
So it possibly could have ended by the USA gaining the same capability,
Soviet Luna 9 first by months not years (Score:3)
The linked BBC article is misleading and compares the Feb 1966 landing of the uncrewed Luna 9 to the July 1969 crewed landing of Apollo 11. The BBC article doesn't mention at all the first US uncrewed lander on the moon, Surveyor 1, which landed in June 1966, 4 months after Luna 9, followed by the successful landings of Surveyors 3, 5, 6, and 7 through early 1968 and then by the crewed Apollo landings.
Re: Soviet Luna 9 first by months not years (Score:2)
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It is convenient that we regard the finish line as the first point at which we pulled ahead. Unmanned satellites have had a significant impact on everyday life for billions of people, whereas you can't really say the same for putting people into orbit.
Very good point. To be consistent, though, history is most often narrated by the winners. (Big tongue in cheek).
Extra credit: Which nation launched the first unmanned satellite? The vast majority of unmanned satellites in orbit were launched by which country?
Xenogadget (Score:4, Insightful)
Engadget argues that this footage from Mars "is as much about bragging rights as anything. Zhurong is part of China's first truly independent mission to another planet, and the country no doubt wants to highlight its accomplishments in as much detail as possible."
And the American missions weren't?
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Well arguably the US and Soviet space programmes of the 60s were joint operations with the Germans.
And to be even fairer the Chinese learned at lot from the Russians.
It's such a shame that Kennedy was assassinated and the US and USSR didn't cooperate on a Moon landing.
"is as much about bragging rights as anything" (Score:1)
Snide remarks aside, I'm sure the people betting on failure are very disappointed. They feel threatened by China's success
Re:"is as much about bragging rights as anything" (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't have to be framed as a "race," or cheering for one team or booing another. Congratulations to China on a great and successful mission. All of us earthlings can benefit from more knowledge about other nearby neighborhoods.
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I have issues cheering for a country that puts millions of people into concentration camps and benefits from their slave labor and organs. That makes them no better than nazi Germany and their V2 program (largely helped by slave labor).
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I have issues cheering for a country that puts millions of people into concentration camps and benefits from their slave labor and organs. That makes them no better than nazi Germany and their V2 program (largely helped by slave labor).
So you didn't cheer for the US in the space race ?:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Or are you going to deny the huge influence Von Braun had on US space exploration ?
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Why would other Asian countries want China to be successful?
China is like the 1930s Germany of Asia.
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Sweet (Score:5, Insightful)
The more countries doing science, the better. If China makes a scientific discovery, we all benefit.
We are all one race.
Re:Sweet (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean look how well countries cooperate between each other for vaccine , research or investigation.
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I mean look how well countries cooperate between each other for vaccine , research or investigation.
Given coronavirus was a joint research project between the US and China, I'd say we've got some real cooperation going on.
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But.... the orange man said otherwise!
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He said a lot.
“China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the Virus,” Trump said on Twitter. “We are working closely together. Much respect!” [cnbc.com]
Re:Sweet (Score:5, Funny)
We are all one race.
So, what box do you check for race when filling out an application that's asking the question?
Re:Sweet (Score:4, Funny)
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I usually check all of them [pewresearch.org] except Other Pacific Islander, but that's just because I find that overgeneralization to be just a tiny bit offensive, to someone, on some level.
Race is the ultimate social construct. Assigning a "race" by the color of skin is one of the most stupid thing's I've ever seen.
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It's not rocket science, or even advanced plumbing... as long as we continue to collect racial data, thereby defining individuals by it, we're reinforcing our tribal instincts.
The bottleneck in further evolution of a species may be in the species' ability, or lack thereof, to discard previously advantageous tendencies that are no longer contributing to their betterment.
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It's not rocket science, or even advanced plumbing... as long as we continue to collect racial data, thereby defining individuals by it, we're reinforcing our tribal instincts.
The bottleneck in further evolution of a species may be in the species' ability, or lack thereof, to discard previously advantageous tendencies that are no longer contributing to their betterment.
We had a good start with the equality movement for a few years, but then the diversity movement was birthed. At that time, It was obvious that we were falling right back into the old habit of defining people by the color of their skin and geographical origins.
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Racial data is important for planning because unfortunately race is still an issue. We tried ignoring it and it didn't fix the problem, turns out only actively working towards a fix fixes it.
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Assigning a "race" by the color of skin is one of the most stupid thing's I've ever seen.
But if it was a dog or cat or horse, the colour of the pelt and the length of the hair, or legs would do it.
Race is the ultimate social construct.
True. But the fact that there are races - and acknowledging it - does not make you a racist.
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Assigning a "race" by the color of skin is one of the most stupid thing's I've ever seen.
But if it was a dog or cat or horse, the colour of the pelt and the length of the hair, or legs would do it.
I'm not sure anyone thinks about cat breeds in the way that humans think of human "races", really. Not even racists,
Race is the ultimate social construct.
True. But the fact that there are races - and acknowledging it - does not make you a racist.
There are bundles of genes which have statistically significant distributions along geographical or cultural dimensions. Some of these bundles we call "race" and some we don't, but there's no real logic to which we do or don't. There are several very strong gene bundles in Ireland, but we don't talk about the "Irish races". Because they're all white.
It's all bollocks.
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There are bundles of genes which have statistically significant distributions along geographical or cultural dimensions. Some of these bundles we call "race" and some we don't, but there's no real logic to which we do or don't. There are several very strong gene bundles in Ireland, but we don't talk about the "Irish races". Because they're all white.
It's all bollocks.
Correct. The concerning part is that what is happening is just another form of hatred based on the skin color of the owner. A few weeks back I was listening to a news show, three pretty women of diverse nature were interviewing a "white" guy. They were making blanket statements like "All old white guys are racist and sexist" completely unironically. And when theguy they were interviewing objected to the prejudicial statement they laughed at him.
We have in no way abandoned racism and the toxicity it br
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There are several very strong gene bundles in Ireland, but we don't talk about the "Irish races". Because they're all white. ...
But you could, if you wanted
It's all bollocks.
Not really, the distinction is important in many cases. What racists do with those distinctions, that is bollocks.
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There are several very strong gene bundles in Ireland, but we don't talk about the "Irish races". Because they're all white. ...
But you could, if you wanted
Sure. You could call them anything you like, if you want to.
It's all bollocks.
Not really, the distinction is important in many cases.
Can you give some examples? Obviously, carrying a gene can be important medically, but that's a long way from "races".
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We have races in every animal.
Obviously we have that in humans, too.
No idea what your problem is.
Obviously, carrying a gene can be important medically, but that's a long way from "races".
No it is not. Different genes, albeit same species -> different race. Simple.
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So every person is a different race?
You're trying to defend an arbitrary label as if it were an objective fact, that's my problem.
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The most objective fact is obviously skin colour.
No idea what your problem is.
Other objective facts are the genetic code, so you can - if you want - subdivide races even if they have the same skin colour.
Obviously skin colour is not the reason, but a way to identify a race.
E.g. Inuit and Maori or Hawaiians have the same skin colour, but are of different race.
Why you want to dispute that, is beyond me.
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The most objective fact is obviously skin colour.
Yeah, that's a big deal. I mean I always think of people with different coloured hair as different races.
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Assigning a "race" by the color of skin is one of the most stupid thing's I've ever seen. But if it was a dog or cat or horse, the colour of the pelt and the length of the hair, or legs would do it.
Race is the ultimate social construct. True. But the fact that there are races - and acknowledging it - does not make you a racist.
Why yes it does, unless you acknowledge that a lot of people believe in a total social construct. Because if you believe in differentiating people by the color of their skin and geographical origin denotes race, you are by the very definition racist.
Which is to say - you need to confront the fact that you are racist.
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Wait. did you just say that acknowledging that there are races is racist? That's some 1984 level propaganda making there.
What I am saying is that if you look at people, and assign a race to them - yes - you are racist.
It simply means that you are signing on to an artificial construct, and taking that construct and believing it is true.
That the construct of race is artificial does not mean that there aren't racists. There are a lot of them.
The worst ones use that artificial construct as a weapon. Think of the Republican party. Think of the pretty ladies on the infotainment stations that prattle on about how all old wh
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It simply means that you are signing on to an artificial construct, and taking that construct and believing it is true.
It is not an artificial construct, not more than races in dogs or cats or horses are artificial: it is a natural construct.
Black are black - white are white, probably you never noticed. (And if you are into it, you can divide them down into "sub races", which is sometimes useful in medication or for organ transplants, or even nutrition, also strange "illnesses" as e.g. alcohol tolerance or
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Because if you believe in differentiating people by the color of their skin and geographical origin denotes race, you are by the very definition racist.
Skin colour is a prime distinction between races. If you do not know that why argue?
A racist is one who treats people different, and in particular treat them "bad", based on race.
Which is to say - you need to confront the fact that you are racist. :P
As I'm not a racist, I do not bother about your attempted insults
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Good idea, I'm going to do that starting now.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Maybe I'm not intelligent, but my IQ is high and I'm happy. So there's a data point for you.
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I usually check all of them [pewresearch.org]
That's one of the most horrible forms I've ever seen.
The only saving grace is that is has a box for 'other' and a place where you can print "Human"
Re: Sweet (Score:3)
That was for 2010, the 2020 one was even more cringy. The origin line was mandatory, and the online version of the form has click here for more info buttons and the more it tried to explain the specifics of each field the worse it got.
So 8, if your parent(s) check yes, but you grew up in the US, you can kind of go either way because it's a cultural thing. Then 9, White - "American", White - "Canadian?", White - "Arizona", White - "Half Mexico half plain white"? Wtf did they think people were going to wri
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Given that we are all descendant from the exact same group of people [wikipedia.org] (living somewhere between 5000-15000 years ago), this is more correct than most people realize. We all have various degrees of every "race" in our DNA, so every white person is a bit black and vice versa.
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We are all one race.
So, what box do you check for race when filling out an application that's asking the question?
There is no such thing as race, no matter when the far right or or left think.
Is a bay horse a different race than a blonde Palomino?
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Why do some no-races of people have specific medical conditions for their specific no-race? How would you warn black folk about sickle cell or yellow folk about the asian blush? How would you classify those no-races of people so they can be prepared for possible medical issues? Just tell everyone to check on every possible medical condition even if it's really only a concern for some no-races?
You do it the same way you tell anyone about conditions they might be prone to.
One does not need to invoke the whole concept of race to tell people of dark skin color that they should take vitamin D supplements if they live in northern climates. Or tell people with red hair that they need to be careful in travelling to places near the equator.
Your worry that we'd have to test people for diseases we know they wouldn't likely have, is silly. Even now, there are certain sub groups of people, like Ashken
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This guy answered your question [slashdot.org].
"There are bundles of genes which have statistically significant distributions along geographical or cultural dimensions. Some of these bundles we call "race" and some we don't, but there's no real logic to which we do or don't. There are several very strong gene bundles in Ireland, but we don't talk about the "Irish races". Because they're all white.",
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Is a bay horse a different race than a blonde Palomino?
Yes. That is why one is called "of race Bay" and the other is called "race Blonde Palomino".
Wow, I'm shocked you do not know that.
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That is why one is called "of race Bay" and the other is called "race Blonde Palomino".
I can't find any reference to these phrases in English.
Anyway I don't know why anyone would any horse other than a mustang. Maybe a Fresian but that's just for show.
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So, what box do you check for race when filling out an application that's asking the question?
I just write in "Perfectly Normal Human Worm-Baby."
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So, what box do you check for race when filling out an application that's asking the question?
I draw in an extra box and label it "Human".
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I throw away the survey.
Unless it is for an organ transplant, race does not matter.
Sour grapes (Score:3, Insightful)
Engadget argues that this footage from Mars "is as much about bragging rights as anything. Zhurong is part of China's first truly independent mission to another planet, and the country no doubt wants to highlight its accomplishments in as much detail as possible."
Wow, one can feel the jealousy and sour grapes dripping from this statement.
Of course, if China didn’t release these footages, you can accuse China of faking the landing, for “covering up” a failed mission, right? China knew these tricks now, so they released so much details that the western MSM can no longer smear their successes so easily.
China is now on equal footing as anyone else in space capability now, and by 2025, they would have the only working space station, hence the only country capable of doing long-term space experiments. European astronauts are now learning Chinese In hopes of going there. China will become the forefront of science and technology in the next 10-20 years, magazines like Engadget better get used to it soon, else they will only have these kind of articles filled with jealousy like a scorned lover
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The knee jerk narratives we see in the media are increasingly cringe worthy.
"The nasty Chinese / Communists didn't release footage - they're secretive and/or faking it"
or
"The nasty Chinese / Communists did release the footage - they're bragging"
Re: Sour grapes (Score:3)
I like that you posted with you alias vs the OP.
The reality is things like this are propaganda by another name. That's the whole reason the concept of nasty communists begun, they say they have been brainwashed with propaganda but anyone stepping back for a second realizes American news does the same shit.
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Engadget argues that this footage from Mars "is as much about bragging rights as anything. Zhurong is part of China's first truly independent mission to another planet, and the country no doubt wants to highlight its accomplishments in as much detail as possible."
Wow, one can feel the jealousy and sour grapes dripping from this statement.
They probably watch Fox news and chant "America First!" when they get up in the morning.
Better than us. (Score:2)
Ingenuity (Score:1)
Can we send the little helicopter to drop some bird shit on it?
Cut the brainwash (Score:3, Insightful)
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No, because China's space program is as much politically as scientifically motivated.
Every space program.
The one disappointing thing (Score:2)
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Disappointed that rover seems to be a copy of the NASA Mars rovers. Unless you're going to claim that the NASA design is somehow an optimal one, I would have liked to see China doing something innovative as opposed to a derivative copy.
The first time you are doing something insanely difficult, is not usually the best time to be innovative.
Additional landers planned (Score:2)
As the search for dissidents expands..