Beijing, Sept 6 (UNI) China plans to conduct two launches as part of the Tianwen-3 mission to collect samples from Mars and send them to Earth around 2028, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing Liu Jizhong, chief designer of China's Mars sample-return mission.
"China has retrieved the first ever samples from the far side of the moon with the Chang'e-6 mission this year. Since Mars is much farther away than the moon, it will take two launches to carry out the Mars sample-return mission due to the limited carrying capacities of our current rockets. Two Long March-5 carrier rockets will be used for the mission," Liu was quoted as saying by the news agency on Thursday.
The mission’s main goal is to search for signs of life, the report said, adding that Chinese scientists also want to study Martian climate and its evolution, Martian geology and the planet's internal processes.
In June, the Vice Administrator of the China National Space Administration, Bian Zhigang, said that China would launch the Tianwen-2 mission to explore asteroids before 2025. Later, it plans to launch the Tianwen-3 and Tianwen-4 missions before 2030 to collect samples from Mars and explore the Jupiter system. UNI/SPUTNIK AKS