It is part of the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars conducted by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The spacecraft was launched on 23 July 2020 and inserted into Martian orbit on 10 February 2021. The lander, carrying the rover, performed a successful soft-landing on Mars on 14 May 2021, making China the second country that successfully soft-landed a spacecraft on Mars and established communications from the surface, after the United States.
Zhurong was successfully deployed on 22 May 2021, 02:40 UTC.