365NEWSX
365NEWSX
Subscribe

Welcome

China aims to return Mars samples before joint NASA-European mission: report - Space.com

China aims to return Mars samples before joint NASA-European mission: report - Space.com

China aims to return Mars samples before joint NASA-European mission: report - Space.com
Jun 21, 2022 1 min, 29 secs

China plans to haul Mars samples to Earth in 2031, two years before NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) aim to do so, according to media reports. .

The target date was announced in a Monday (June 20) presentation (opens in new tab) by Sun Zezhou, chief designer of the Tianwen 1 Mars orbiter and rover mission that arrived at the Red Planet in February 2021, according to SpaceNews (opens in new tab).

Zezhou's presentation, reportedly given at a Nanjing University seminar, says China is targeting a two-launch mission with liftoff in late 2028 and a sample return to Earth in July 2031, the report said. .

NASA recently asked for public input on its joint sample return plans, after the agency decided to develop a second Mars lander due to the mass requirements of the mission.

Adding that second lander pushes the arrival of Mars samples on Earth back to 2033, from 2031.

The MAV will launch the sample container into Mars orbit, where it will be snagged by a European Earth return orbiter.

The nation's Chang'e 5 mission touched down on the moon in December 2020 and shortly after delivered to Earth the first lunar samples since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 did so in 1976.

— China's moon-sampling Chang'e 5 probe beams home eerie images from deep space.

— China offers 1st glimpse inside Chang'e 5 moon rock sample .

During a May 2021 virtual Senate hearing, for example, NASA chief Bill Nelson twice showed a printed-out picture of Zhurong on Mars, saying the Chinese program is "adding a new element about whether we want to be serious" about NASA sending humans back to the moon.

It released a high-resolution global map of the moon earlier in June, and in May released plans for its Tianwen 2 asteroid sample return mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2025.

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED