HELSINKI — China is on course to launch its Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission in 2028, according to the mission’s lead.
Liu Jizhong, chief designer of Tianwen-3, provided an update on the mission at the second international conference on deep space exploration (Tiandu) in Tunxi, Anhui province, Sept. 5.
Tianwen-3 will consist of two launches from Earth. Two Long March 5 rocket launches will carry a lander and ascent vehicle and an orbiter and return module respectively. Entry, descent and landing will build on technology used for the Tianwen-1 rover landing.
The mission may also include a helicopter and a six-legged crawling robot for collecting samples away from the landing site.
Earlier this year, Sun Zezhou, a senior engineer at the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), told state media that work on Tianwen-3 was progressing “relatively smoothly” and will launch around 2030.
The timeline for the mission has flitted between launch years of 2028 and 2030 over the years. Optimal launch windows for Mars open for a few weeks every 26 months. Mission updates provide little information related to progress on hardware, making timelines hard to assess.
NASA is working on its own, more complex Mars sample return mission. However the program is being reassessed, following projected cost overruns. Studies are being conducted to identify concepts that can deliver samples faster and cheaper than current plans.
Search for life, planetary protection
Liu stated that the search for evidence of life is the Tianwen-3’s top scientific goal, according to state media China Central Television (CCTV).
Earlier reporting notes that potential landing areas will be selected based partly on astrobiological relevance. This includes environments potentially suitable for the emergence of life and its preservation, such as sedimentary or hydrothermal systems, evidence of past aqueous activity and geological diversity.
Researchers have identified three…
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