[8][9] The rover became inactive on 20 May 2022 due to approaching sandstorms and Martian winter, pending its self-awakening with appropriate temperature and sunlight conditions.

[10][11] Zhurong was expected to wake up in December 2022[12] but never did due to excessive dust accumulation, according to the rover's chief designer.

The first early model of the future Mars rover was on display in November 2014 at the 10th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition.

[19] The scientific objectives and payloads of the Mars mission were declared in a paper published in Journal of Deep Space Exploration in December 2017.

[22] On 24 April 2021, in anticipation of the upcoming landing attempt, CNSA formally announced that the rover would be named Zhurong (Chinese: 祝融号).

The twin remained in service to help scientists and engineers determine the path for Zhurong by testing maneuvers in the Mars yard.

The candidate in Utopia Planitia was favored by the team due to higher chances of finding evidence for whether an ancient ocean existed on the northern part of Mars.

After performing a Mars atmospheric entry that lasted about nine minutes, the lander and rover made a successful soft landing in the Utopia Planitia, using a combination of aeroshell, parachute, and retrorocket.

[30] On 22 May 2021, at 10:10 a.m. Beijing time (0240 GMT), Zhurong drove from its landing platform to the surface of Mars, starting its exploration mission.

The panoramic image was composed of 24 single shots taken by the Navigation and Topography Camera before the rover was deployed to the Martian surface.

[36][37] As of 15 August 2021, Zhurong had officially completed its planned exploration tasks and would continue to drive towards the southern part of Utopia Planitia where it landed.

The Chinese scientists and engineers announced an extended expedition aiming to investigate an ancient coastal area on Mars.

[46] By September 2022, Zhurong had returned a total of 1,480 gigabytes of data, offering evidence to support the hypothesis of a former ancient ocean in Utopia Planitia.

[48] In May 2022, Zhurong was switched to hibernation mode to protect against the coming Martian winter and an approaching major sandstorm,[10] with an expected awakening date on 26 December 2022.

In January 2023, the South China Morning Post reported that CNSA scientists did not receive a signal from the rover.

According to the authorities, the rover was programmed to restart when its power level reaches 140 watts with key components warmed to -15°C (5°F).

[11] The rover does not carry a radioisotope heater unit, and heating is instead provided by the chemical compound n-undecane to store energy.

[51] Zhurong could possibly restart if whirlwinds cleaned the dust off the solar panels and radiation levels continued to rise in Martian summer.

[55] On 25 April 2023, the mission designer Zhang Rongqiao announced that the buildup of dust from the last inactivation is greater than planned, indicating the rover could be inactive "forever".

Several steps were involved: ESA commanded Mars Express to point toward Zhurong while passing overhead so it could receive a signal from the rover.

[26] In July 2021, the designer of Tianwen-1 orbiter disclosed that due to Zhurong's better-than-expected performance, the original three-day period has been merged into one, accelerating its exploration process.

[68][69] Data from the Zhurong rover lead scientists to suggest that liquid water may have been present on at the landing site much later than was previously believed.