China is striving to get ahead of the United States in the race to obtain samples from Mars, writes the Hong Kong edition of the South China Morning Post on April 26.
Chinese space authorities have openly proposed a launch schedule for the Tianwen-3 mission that is ahead of NASA’s plans. Work has also begun on planning the world’s first laboratory to study Martian rocks, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program.
Wu Weiren believes China could beat the United States in the race to bring back samples from Mars.
“China will launch the Tianwen-3 spacecraft around 2030 to carry out its mission of returning samples from Mars,” Wu Weiren said April 25 in a keynote speech at the China Space Conference in Wuhan.
“Considering the progress made around the world, we hope to become the first country to bring back samples from Mars.”said Wu, who is also director of the newly established Deep Space Research Laboratory in Hefei, Anhui province.
Wu Weiren is the first senior Chinese space official to publicly make such a prediction. He also said China has begun planning a project to build the world’s first laboratory to take samples from Mars.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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