Rocks out
The space race continues with China pushing back the date for its historic mission to collect samples from Mars, while the US drastically scales back its own trip to collect rocks from the Red Planet.
If Space News reportsLiu Jizhong, the chief designer of the Tianwen-3 sample return mission, announced at a recent conference that the Chinese space agency is moving the program’s launch schedule to 2028, down from previous estimates of around 2030.
The main scientific objective of the mission, as Liu told the state-run organization, is Central China Televisionfinding evidence of life.
Because the conditions for flying to Mars are bad only optimal every 26 monthsChinese officials have alternated between a 2028 and 2030 target over the years. The mission, as Space News notes, which launched two separate Long March 5 rockets from Earth: one carrying ascent and landing vehicles, and one carrying an orbiter and reentry module.
Building on his Tianwen-1 Mars MissionThis sample return project may also include a helicopter and a six-legged tracked vehicle that will traverse areas of the Red Planet pre-selected for their astrobiological relevance, Space News notes.
Sun Zezhou, a senior engineer at the China Academy of Space Technology, told the press earlier this year that the mission’s planning has gone “relatively smoothly” so far, and that the 2030 launch estimate has now been lowered by two years.
Planet B
While China’s space agency continues to push ahead, NASA’s Mars sample mission has been forced to completely restructure its counterpart program after the projected costs increased from an already pricey $8 billion to a staggering $11 billion.
The Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, initially scheduled for 2026, was criticized by an independent expert review last year. In the damning reportThe outside experts present criticized the mission as too complex and concluded that it would be virtually impossible for NASA to carry out the mission on time with the “available funding.”
After conducting its own internal review of the external assessment (!), NASA agreed And decided to ask for help from seven private companies, including SpaceX and Northrup Grumman, to come up with off-the-shelf solutions to make it cheaper and less complex.
If Space News notesChina will likely face its own complications in designing the Tianwen-3 mission, not least because it has never before launched a return ship from a foreign planet.
The country said in its announcement of the latest launch date that it plans to cooperate with other countries when it brings back its Mars samples. However, if recent history is any precedent, the Americans may have to wait to get their own rocks from the Red Planet rather than share them with their Chinese competitors.
More about Mars: Elon Musk says Starship, which has never landed on Earth in one piece, will land on Mars in 2026