China just landed a rover on Mars

Perseverance and Curiosity have company on Mars, as of around 7:00 PM EST on Friday. China brought its lander down to the surface of the planet, which was carrying the Zhurong rover. China joins a select number of countries that have been able to orbit and successfully land a spacecraft on Mars, and it could become only the second after the US to operate a Mars rover. Zhurong isn’t yet operational, as it hasn’t rolled off the lander.

China’s Tianwen-1 obiter reached Mars in February after a seven-month journey, orbiting the planet ever since and preparing for the daring landing. Unlike other Mars missions, China sent an orbiter to the planet that contained two critical payloads, the unnamed lander and the Zhurong rover. China will use the three devices to continue to gather data from Mars, further advancing the country’s ambitious space exploration plans.