The China National Space Administration (CNSA) just released images of the surface of Mars captured by a camera on the front of the Zhurong Mars rover, which functions as an “eye” for the rover to detect obstacles and get around them. Why do these images appear distorted? It’s an ultra-wide angle lens, while the two “arms” shown on the top of the picture are parts of a radar system.
The two “rails” you see that are extended from the platform to the Martian surface are utilized to guide the rover to the ground. Initially ,the arms and rails were concealed in the lander, but have now successfully unfolded. One thing to note is that the color image was photographed by a navigation camera pointed at the tail of the rover, and the solar panels as well can be seen unfolded as designed.
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- AR brings the mission to life – The accompanying augmented reality app experience lets kids dive into the details of the rover and its mission
