Elon Musk and NASA's Senator Bill Nelson recently expressed their joy and "Congratulations" to the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) for the Zhurong Mars Rover's first images on the Red Planet. Despite China being a rival country of the United States, the SpaceX CEO and NASA Administrator were happy with the advances in the international space community of the world.
The world is joining in on NASA's quest towards the Red Planet, with CNSA and China being the next ones to venture Mars with its Zhurong rover that aims to discover more of Earth's neighbor. The Moon is a thing of the past, and Mars is the next destination and aim of most superpower countries, which the US and China now have stakes in it.
SpaceX has been expressing its plans to create a "Mars society" with Elon Musk as its governor or leader, using the Starship spacecraft for transportation of people and their cargo. While NASA is currently working in the Jezero Crater with the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter, aiming to unravel more information about Mars' past.
Elon Musk and NASA Bill Nelson Congratulate China Zhurong Mars Rover
In a tweet by Sen. Nelson (@SenBillNelson), the current NASA chief has acknowledged the CNSA and China's effort to learn more of Mars via its recently landed rover, the Zhurong. The administrator hopes that China and the CNSA would publish or publicize their findings for the growth of the international space community's Mars information.
I would like to second that congratulations. Outstanding accomplishment by China!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2021
On the other hand, SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk (@elonmusk) has replied to this conversation, saying that he "seconds" the congratulations to China and is happy for the Asian country's success on this venture. Moreover, the CEO said that this was an "outstanding accomplishment" for China, especially for already having first-look photos from its rover.
China's Zhurong Rover: Mars Exploration Grows its Community
NASA has been the only space agency, and the United States was the only country, to have sent a rover towards the Red Planet for scientific and exploration purposes, but now it has China on its side. While country tensions are not that apparent in space studies or explorations, this might mean that the CNSA will work with NASA to further the knowledge on the Red Planet.
Mars is the next largest destination of humans in space, and humanity aims to travel towards the Red Planet to either inhabitat or make it the next travel destination. However, the likes of NASA and the CNSA will have to learn more about it, especially the possibility of humans going there, to ensure the safety and success of manned missions.
Related Article: China's Tianwen-1 Spacecraft Successfully Lands Zhurong on Utopia Planitia on Mars
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Written by Isaiah Richard
