What Chinese rover continued its extended mission on Mars in February 2026?

China's first robotic explorer on the Red Planet, the Zhurong rover, is a key component of the nation's ambitious Tianwen-1 mission. Named after the ancient Chinese god of fire, Zhurong successfully touched down in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars in May 2021, making China only the second country to achieve a successful soft landing and deploy a rover on the Martian (Review) surface. Its primary mission was designed for 90 Martian sols, roughly 92 Earth days, with objectives to investigate the planet's geology, soil composition, and potential water-ice deposits.

The Zhurong rover significantly surpassed its initial operational expectations, continuing its exploration for over 347 sols before entering a planned hibernation in May 2022 to withstand the severe Martian winter and prevalent dust storms. Although the rover faced challenges in reawakening due to suspected dust accumulation on its solar panels, the scientific impact of its extended mission persisted well into 2026. In February of that year, researchers were actively sifting through the extensive data Zhurong had gathered, leading to fresh and pivotal insights into the Martian environment.

Notably, early 2026 saw the publication of new findings derived from Zhurong's ground-penetrating radar, which revealed compelling evidence suggesting that liquid water was present on Mars much more recently than previously thought, possibly as late as 750 million years ago. This remarkable discovery, based on data collected during the rover's active period, has profound implications for our understanding of Mars's climatic history, its geological evolution, and the potential for past habitability. Therefore, even in dormancy, Zhurong's mission continued to enrich our knowledge of