Will China return samples from Mars to Earth before the US does?

It appears that China has advanced its program to bring samples from Mars to Earth and intends to do so before the US achieves the same goal.

NASA’s plan to return samples from Marsjoint efforts with European Space Agency (ESA), continues to be under scrutiny. The newly created strategy review team will advise agency leadership on what to do now and make recommendations by the end of the year or early next year.

The expected final result is fingers crossed that NASA’s blessed Red Planet project offers the highest chance of receiving Mars deliver samples to Earth before 2040 and do it for less than 11 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, China is on an earlier path to achieving what scientists call the “Holy Grail” of Mars exploration.

Space.com listened to several leading Mars explorers to get their thoughts, concerns and aspirations about the two sample return attempts.

Connected: NASA wants new ideas for its troubled Mars sample return mission

China’s plan

Earth and Mars are shown in a white image, outlined by a red dotted line and a green dotted line, with a spacecraft flying between them.

Plan for China’s sample return campaign from Mars. (Image credit: Kanyang Xu/COSPAR)

First of all, a little background.

China’s second International Conference on Deep Space Exploration, organized by the country’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, was held in September in Huangshan City, Anhui Province.

During a multi-day meeting attended by hundreds of foreign guests and domestic experts, Liu Jizhong, chief designer of the Mars sample return project, said China now plans will launch the Tianwen-3 mission around 2028 — two years earlier than previously planned — and deliver samples from Mars to Earth in the same year.

“The Mars sample return mission will require two launches due to the limited payload capacity of our current vehicles. rockets. The mission will use two Long March 5 rockets, Liu told state news agency Xinhua.

Connected: China delays Mars sample return launch by two years, until 2028

Shoot and send

The push to bring pieces of Mars to Earth builds on China’s efforts to return samples from the Moon on two different missions – Chang’e 5 close mission in December 2020 and Chang’e 6which delivered samples from the reverse side to Earth in June of this year.

Likewise, Planned mission profile of Tianwen 3 involves collecting samples on the surface of Mars, launching, rendezvous and docking in Mars orbit, and then delivering the collected goodies back to Earth.

The architecture of the lander is similar to that of Chang’e 5 and Chang’e 6, both of which had a bucket and drill. Vehicles capable of retrieving nearby samples in the landing zone are also being evaluated.

The scientific impetus for Tianwen-3 is to search for signs Martian life. Chinese space experts say the mission will involve international cooperation, international payloads, exchange of samples and data, and joint planning for future missions.

Connected: Life on Mars: research and evidence

Location of the land

As for Tianwen 3’s landing sites on the Red Planet, “engineering constraints don’t respect national boundaries,” said James Head, a leading planetary scientist at Brown University in Rhode Island.

Head highlighted China’s successful Tianwen-1 Mars mission, which delivered an orbiter, lander and rover to the Red Planet in 2021. Zhurong all-terrain vehicle explore Utopia Planitia, a huge impact basin on this distant world.

“I don’t think China has finalized the location of its sampling site on Mars, but I would bet on utopia,” Head told Space.com. According to him, China has already successfully visited there and therefore the country’s scientists know the terrain as well as the geology of the area.

Connected: China may add helicopter and six-legged robot to Mars sample return mission

The Zhurong rover looks back at the tracks it left on the surface of Mars.

China’s Jurong rover has surveyed the Utopian Plain, a huge impact basin on Mars and a possible site for the country’s sample return efforts. (Image credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA))

Politics of science

In some ways, China’s attempt to return samples from Mars can be seen as more of a political issue than a scientific one.

Scott Hubbard is an associate professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He and Mars have a long-term relationship:

Hubbard was the first-ever director of NASA’s Mars program and the architect of missions to the Red Planet, from the Mars Odyssey orbiter to the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Mars rover Curiositywhich still roams the Red Planet in Gale Crater.

“If, as has been reported, China successfully achieves even a “sample capture” on Mars and returns it safely to Earth before the United States, this would constituteSputnik Moment” Hubbard said, referring to the scientific and political revolution in the former Soviet Union that put the first satellite into orbit.

A sample, Hubbard added, represents material collected by the stationary lander—any samples within reach.

“The sampling, unless the Chinese are lucky, will have less scientific value than the carefully selected cores collected by NASA. Perseverance Rover“But I feel that the performative and political power of the headline ‘China defeats the US’ is much more important for the People’s Republic of China.”

Hubbard pointed to the result of NASA’s original planning – a 20-year campaign of orbiters, rovers and landers that has produced a wealth of scientific data and new technology. These efforts also led to the selection of Jezero Crater and the surrounding highlands as an excellent location to collect samples to return to Earth and study in detail, he said.

NASA's Perseverance rover took a selfie on Mars on September 20, 2021.

At Jezero Crater, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is loaded with science equipment and is actively collecting samples in its survey area for possible delivery to Earth. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

The gift that keeps on giving

Two people in spacesuits walk on the surface of a rusty planet. The astronaut in the foreground looks in surprise at something in the distance. The astronaut on the right and slightly behind leans on a rock and holds a hammer. A multi-wheeled Mars rover is parked behind them, and in the distance are some residential modules.

Mars beckons. Future human explorers will be able to maximize the results of science to uncover the complex nature of the Red Planet. (Image credit: NASA/Pat Rawlings)

NASA dominates Mars exploration, said Harry McSween of the University of Tennessee’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, “and after so much planning and effort to return samples from Mars, it would be sad if the United States and our European partners did not do so.” I won’t bring the first samples.”

Transporting these Martian samples from great distances to well-equipped laboratories here on Earth is essential, McSween said.

“Our experience with lunar samples returned Apollo demonstrates that the samples can revolutionize our understanding, and they are the gift that keeps on giving as new ways of analyzing materials can be realized many decades later,” he said.

“Returning Mars samples is the next giant step in planetary exploration. It is a complex and costly, but also an inspiring and attractive part of our national policy,” McSween said.

Is the bridge too far?

Renowned Mars expert Chris McKay of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley noted a 2002 approach that promoted astrobiological research on Mars through a so-called “pioneering” sample return mission. This proposal included a simple “Step 1” Mars lander whose only instruments were an extendable arm with very simple sampling devices.

“If we followed this approach, we (would already) have samples from Mars here on Earth,” McKay said.

“Note that this is very similar to the approach the Chinese used to return samples from the far side of the Moon,” McKay added. “Instead of this simple first step, NASA chose to turn to the more complex first sample return, which we now see is a bridge too far. Is it too late to go back to simple step 1?”

Here’s the scoop

As for China taking the lead in returning samples from Mars, the prospect is bittersweet, responded Pascal Li, a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute in California as well as the nearby Mars Institute at Ames Research Center.

“As a scientist, I think, ‘Wow… this is great!’ More samples from Mars, the sooner the better!” But from a space strategy perspective, this would be another red flag, if not a blow,” Lee said.

By returning samples from Mars, China will become the first country to travel back and forth between Earth and Mars, Li noted.

“The next step will be a human flight to Mars. For NASA, there’s more at stake than just “getting the samples back first.” This is directly related to our ability to lead human exploration of Mars, which includes returning them safely to Earth. ” Lee said.

Hubbard expressed similar disappointment.

“What should irritate everyone is that the Chinese are using our 20 years and 12 billion years of knowledge of NASA and European Space Agency missions, our published technology and peer-reviewed science to take over the free world,” Hubbard said.

“Taxpayers in both the US and Europe should rightly be angry at Congress, NASA and ESA for not appropriating the funds and developing the projects needed to meet the original return date,” Hubbard concluded.

Will China return samples from Mars to Earth before the US does?

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