HIT News: At 10:40 on May 22nd, Zhurong Mars rover has safely left the landing platform and reached the surface of Mars to start the roving exploration.
The Mars rover movement system and transfer ramp mechanism successfully developed by HIT Academician Deng Zongquan's team in cooperation with the General Department of China Academy of Space Technology since 2013 have become the engineering highlights of this Mars exploration mission.
Prof. Gao Haibo from School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in HIT presided over the research of Zhurong Mars rover mobile system. In view of the soft and rugged landform on the surface of Mars, the rover is prone to slip and self-sink in soft sand, and the traction force is insufficient. They jointly put forward the active and passive composite rover mobile system configuration with creep and subsidence function. The Mars rover with this configuration has unique functions such as creeping descent, creeping hill climbing, carriage lifting and anti-bottom, suspension active folding, wheel lifting, etc. It has strong descent and hill climbing ability.
Prof. Jiang Shengyuan from School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in HIT presided over the research of Zhurong Mars rover transfer ramp mechanism. The transfer ramp mechanism is folded at the top of the lander, and it allows for selective jerking in both the front and rear directions, and has the capability to adapt to the complex surface of Mars, ensuring a smooth transfer of the Zhurong rover.
The success of the Zhurong Mars rover transfer and fire surface movement mission is a major achievement of scientific research team in HIT and the space industry, which has set an example of innovative cooperation in the whole process of national major science and technology projects, from pre-study, project establishment, technical research to project implementation.
