A confident China has moved ahead its deadline for a mission to Mars. Liu Jizhong, chief designer of the mission announced earlier this week that the deadline for the mission is now year 2028. China was previously aiming to land a spacecraft on the red planet by early 2030s. The fresh deadline means that China is now aiming to surpass US in a race to Mars. The Chinese Mars mission aims to bring about 600 grams of Martian soil back to Earth.
If China launches its spacecraft in 2028, the samples are likely to return to Earth in mid-2031.
A successful Chinese mission to Mars would see it take a giant leap ahead of US.
“It would mean that nation has achieved the ability to safely land, collect samples, launch a rocket from Mars and transport the samples 33 million miles [53 million km] back to Earth,” said Namrata Goswami, a researcher of space policy at Arizona State University in the US. Goswami was quoted by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Tianwen-3, the orbirter China is planning to send to Mars for sample collection, will also offer 25 kgs for payloads from other global players. The payload will piggyback Tianwen-3 as it journeys to the red planet.
Mars has had several rovers on its surface and orbiters revolving around it. But no country has ever been able to land a craft, collect samples, lift-off from the martian surface and return back to Earth with the collected samples.
What is NASA doing?
NASA currently has its Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars. Over the years after its landing, it has collected 25 tubes of samples collected on the Martian surface. The US space agency is planning a Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission but there is uncertainty surrounding it since September last year. It has been estimated that the MSR mission would cost USD 11 billion and may be completed by 2040.
