China's Tianwen-3 mission to bring Mars samples to Earth by around 2028, expected to become world’s first
Global Times
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China announced its ambitious plan to carry out Tianwen-3 mission with two launches to retrieve samples from Mars and bring them back to Earth by around 2028, chief designer of the mission Liu Jizhong disclosed on Thursday at an event on deep-space exploration held in Huangshan, East China’s Anhui Province. The mission is expected to become the world’s first such attempt on the Red Planet, and will involve international payload cooperation, as well as global collaboration in sample and data sharing.
The mission’s top priority is to search for traces of life on the Red Planet, Liu noted. In terms of engineering, the mission will involve critical technologies such as Mars surface sampling, ascent from Mars, Mars orbit rendezvous, and planetary protection.
Humanity's journey to explore the Red Planet began 64 years ago with the former Soviet Union's 1960 Mars mission. To date, a total of seven countries and international organizations have conducted 47 Mars exploration treks, achieving flybys, orbital missions, landings, and surface rovers. However, the challenging task of returning samples from Mars remains unaccomplished.
The Tianwen-4 mission, which China is conducting feasibility study on, will aim for the exploration of Jupiter and its moons, followed by the arrival at Uranus, according to Wu.