【推荐1】China has named its first Mars rover (火星车) “Zhu Rong” on April 24th, 2021. Compared with another name — Hongyi, which means an open mind, Zhu Rong is more preferred. It received nearly 20% more of the 3 million votes (选票) than Hongyi in an online survey.

Zhu Rong is the god (神) of fire and war in Chinese saying. As a powerful character (人物) , it had the face of man, body of a wild animal, and often rode on two dragons. Seen as the earliest god of fire in traditional Chinese culture, it is a symbol of the use of fire to light up the earth and bring light. This name joins modern science and traditional culture together, showing the Chinese nation’s spirit of exploration (探索) and confidence (自信) in its culture and encouraging people to keep exploring the universe.

After leaving the Earth last summer, Zhu Rong landed on the red planet on May 22nd. It is the sixth such machine for five American rovers have already landed. The rover is 1.85 meters high and weighs about 240 kilograms with six scientific instruments, which will allow it to get information, such as the planet’s ground, the geological structure (地质结构), climate and environment.

Zhu Rong is part of the Tianwen -1, China’s first independent (独立的) Mars task. Tianwen is a work by Qu Yuan, a famous poet from the Chu Kingdom who lived during the Warring States Period. Naming the task after the poem is to show China’s determination to explore deep space and also to develop a love of science in the nation’s young people.

Since October 1960, Tianwen -1 is the world’s 46th Mars exploration task. Only 19 of those tasks have been successful. The goals of Tianwen -1 are going around the planet to make comprehensive observations (全面观察) , landing on the planet and placing a rover to do tests. If it could realize all three goals, it would be another success in space for our country.

【推荐2】As an old Chinese saying goes, food is No. 1 need. What do astronauts eat on the space station and where does their food come from?

On October 16th, 2021, China launched a rocket and sent three taikonauts(Chinese astronauts)—two men and a woman—to China’s space station core module Tianhe. There are more than 120 kinds of food and drinks inside. They are rich in nutrition, taste good and are easy to keep for a long time. The taikonauts can also have a bite of their favorite specials.

These years, some countries have even started to grow food in space. Back in 2016, taikonauts grew some plants in space, such as lettuce and rice. Now some astronauts are even growing chile peppers in space for the first time. Their seeds(种子) need a long time before they start to come up. Then it takes them a long time to grow. There’s one thing the astronauts will have to do in caring for the plants. They will have to transfer pollen(花粉) to the flowers. In this way, astronauts will get seeds that can grow new plants. It’s also how the peppers form. The seeds grow inside of the chile peppers.

The environment on the space station is quite different from that on the earth. Astronauts don’t feel good and food also tastes different. So chile peppers help them to eat more. The peppers are red. That might help astronauts feel better.

Space plants are also important for a trip to other planets like Mars. Astronauts would need food for staying there and for the long trip to Mars and back.

【推荐3】As its seventh manned space task, China sent Shenzhou XII spaceship on June 17th with three astronauts to the central part of module (核心舱) of China’s space station which lasts forever, according to a project leader.

Ji Qiming from the China Manned Space Agency (中国载人航天局), told reporters at a news meeting in northwestern China on Wednesday that the people in the Shenzhou XII spaceship—Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo—would be lifted on the top of a Long March 2F carrier (运载) rocket at 9:22 a.m. and would become the first people to be in the central module after their spaceship docked with the module, which was traveling in a low-earth circle hundreds of kilometers above the ground.

During their three-month stay, which would be three times longer than that of Shenzhou XI, inside the module, named Tianhe, the three astronauts were tasked with lots of testing, checking and experiments. Besides, they need to do exercise to stay healthy. In a video online, Nie Haisheng was using a space exercise bike in the central part of China’s space station.

After the three astronauts finished their three-month stay, they returned to the Shenhou XII and then drive the spaceship to leave from Tianhe and fly back to the earth. On September 17th, they landed in northwestern China.

Through this task, the manned space agency can increase experience and check the ability of machines, especially computers, and computer programs to be used together in systems that took part in the space station program.