China is the first country to successfully orbit, land and deploy a vehicle on Mars on its first try. The Zhurong rover is a six-wheel solar-powered rover, which weighs about 240 kilograms. It touched down on Mars on May 15. The United States has launched nine successful Mars landings, including sending five rovers to explore the planet’s surface. The Soviet Union had previously managed to land on the surface of Mars, but was unable to successfully operate a rover on the planet.