China Announces Plans to Deliver Soil from Mars to Earth (3 photos)

After a successful mission to deliver lunar soil to our planet, the Chinese decided to go further into space 2 years ahead of schedule.





Chief designer of the mission Liu Jizhong shared ambitious plans for studying Mars at the 2nd International Conference on Deep Space Exploration in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui.

In just 4 years, China will be ready to conduct a large-scale study of Martian rock.

The Tianwen-3 interplanetary expedition will not only have to successfully reach the Red Planet, but also collect soil from it and safely deliver it to Earth. The main scientific goal will be to search for signs of life.



Liu Jizhong said that the Tianwen-3 mission will carry out international cooperation in three aspects: international cooperation on payload, exchange of samples and data, and joint research for future planning.

Human exploration of Mars began 64 years ago. To date, 7 countries (international organizations) have launched 47 missions to explore Mars, completing orbital flights, landings, and studies of Mars. But no one has yet been able to deliver soil to Earth.



The orbiter of the Tianwen-1 probe photographs Mars

NASA announced the creation of such a mission back in 2020, and even launched a probe to Mars to collect samples there, but the delivery of these samples to Earth did not work out. They were unable to develop a landing module to return the samples. It was supposed to be created at the European Space Agency. The deadlines were constantly pushed back due to lack of funding. In the end, the launch of the mission was postponed until 2030-2035, and that's if you're lucky.

So the Chinese have every chance of being the first to get Martian soil.