China's Mars Rover Touches Ground on Red Planet

The solar-powered rover touched Martian soil at 10:40 am Saturday Beijing time. (NASA via AFP file photo)
The solar-powered rover touched Martian soil at 10:40 am Saturday Beijing time. (NASA via AFP file photo)
TT
20

China's Mars Rover Touches Ground on Red Planet

The solar-powered rover touched Martian soil at 10:40 am Saturday Beijing time. (NASA via AFP file photo)
The solar-powered rover touched Martian soil at 10:40 am Saturday Beijing time. (NASA via AFP file photo)

China’s first Mars rover has driven down from its landing platform and is now roaming the surface of the red planet, China's space administration said Saturday.

The solar-powered rover touched Martian soil at 10:40 am Saturday Beijing time (0240 GMT), the China National Space Administration said.

China landed the spacecraft carrying the rover on Mars last Saturday, a technically challenging feat more difficult than a moon landing, in a first for the country. It is the second country to do so, after the United States.

Named after the Chinese god of fire, Zhurong, the rover has been running diagnostics tests for several days before it began its exploration Saturday. It is expected to be deployed for 90 days to search of evidence of life.

The US also has an ongoing Mars mission, with the Perseverance rover and a tiny helicopter exploring the planet. NASA expects the rover to collect its first sample in July for return to Earth in a decade.

China has ambitious space plans that include launching a crewed orbital station and landing a human on the moon. China in 2019 became the first country to land a space probe on the little-explored far side of the moon, and in December returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s.



Pope Leo Warns Politicians of the Challenges Posed by AI

This handout photograph taken and released by the Vatican Media on June 21 2025, shows Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with participants in the Jubilee of the Rulers, in The Vatican. (Handout / Vatican Media / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Vatican Media on June 21 2025, shows Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with participants in the Jubilee of the Rulers, in The Vatican. (Handout / Vatican Media / AFP)
TT
20

Pope Leo Warns Politicians of the Challenges Posed by AI

This handout photograph taken and released by the Vatican Media on June 21 2025, shows Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with participants in the Jubilee of the Rulers, in The Vatican. (Handout / Vatican Media / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Vatican Media on June 21 2025, shows Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech as he meets with participants in the Jubilee of the Rulers, in The Vatican. (Handout / Vatican Media / AFP)

Pope Leo warned politicians on Saturday of the challenges posed by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), addressing its potential impact on younger people as a prime concern.

Speaking at an event attended by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and parliamentary delegations from 68 countries, Leo revisited a topic that he has raised on a number of occasions during the first few weeks of his papacy.

"In particular, it must not be forgotten that artificial intelligence functions as a tool for the good of human beings, not to diminish them or even to replace them," Leo said at an event held as part of the Roman Catholic Jubilee or Holy Year.

AI proponents say it will speed up scientific and technological progress and help people to carry out routine tasks, granting them more time to pursue higher-value and creative work.

The US-born pontiff said attention was needed to protect "healthy, fair and sound lifestyles, especially for the good of younger generations."

He noted that AI's "static memory" was in no way comparable to the "creative, dynamic" power of human memory.

"Our personal life has greater value than any algorithm, and social relationships require spaces for development that far transcend the limited patterns that any soulless machine can pre-package," he said.

Leo, who became pope in May, has spoken previously of the threat posed by AI to jobs and has called on journalists to use it responsibly.