China is aiming for the Numero Uno spot in space, and with its Tianwen-3 Mars Mission, it hopes to achieve this soon.
China’s Tianwen-3 Mars mission is set to take off in 2028 and it aims to retrieve Martian soil and return to Earth by 2031.
With this mission, China will outpace NASA’s delayed Mars Sample Return mission, potentially accelerating China’s human Mars program.
China is preparing to launch its Tianwen-3 Mars mission in 2028, two years ahead of schedule, as NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is marred with significant delays and rising costs.
Liu Jizhong, chief designer of China’s Mars mission, said at the Second International Conference on Deep Space Exploration that the mission aims to retrieve about 600 grammes of Mars soil, with samples potentially returning to Earth by July 2031.
China is also providing 25 kilograms of space on the Tianwen-3 orbiter for international payloads. The Tianwen-3 mission will use multi-point surface scooping, fixed-point deep drilling, and rover-based sampling to collect Martian soil, contrasting with NASA’s Perseverance Rover, which has been collecting samples in Mars’ Jezero crater since 2021.
