After more than a year and a half on the surface of Mars, the Chinese rover is in trouble.
The South China Morning Post reports that scientists are trying to get the rover to wake up from its sleep.
After the rover was put into sleep mode in May, scientists have been trying to get it to work again, despite the fact that the mission has already been declared a success by Chinese authorities.
The source told the newspaper that the sandstorms probably weakened the ability of the solar panels to generate power.
Similar fates have been experienced by NASA's Mars landers. Dust on its solar panels caused NASA's InSight lander to struggle to charge its batteries. In December, NASA said goodbye to the mission.
Making matters worse for China's Mars exploration program, scientists are struggling to take pictures of the rover using a Chinese probe circling the Red Planet.
Once the power level and temperature threshold had been reached, the rover was supposed to wake up.
The fate of Zhurong is still unknown but it has exceeded expectations. Three months was the initial plan for the rover.
It traveled over a mile over the course of a year before being put into a state of sleep.
Sources tell the South China Morning Post that Chinese scientists are going to wake the Mars rover.
The Chinese Mars Rover is said to have touched down on the surface of Mars.
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