China plans to retrieve Martian samples around 2031: laboratory

BEIJING -- China is poised to collect Martian samples and return them to Earth around 2031, with its foremost scientific goal being the search for life signatures on the red planet, according to the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory on Wednesday.

China plans to carry out its Tianwen 3 mission through two launches around 2028. The mission aims to land, collect samples and return them in one integrated operation, with the landing site also serving as the sampling location.

The lab scientists, including the mission's chief scientist Hou Zengqian and its chief designer Liu Jizhong, outlined their exploration strategy in a brief article published in the November's edition of journal National Science Review. Their strategy includes considerations such as "where to sample," "what to choose", "how to sample," and "how to utilize" the collected materials.

They have proposed 86 potential landing sites, primarily concentrated in the ancient Chryse Planitia region and Utopia Planitia region, which encompass diverse geological environments, such as ancient coastlines, deltas, ancient lakes and canyon systems, providing favorable conditions for the origin and preservation of potential ancient life, according to the article.

The team vowed to investigate how to identify, where to find and how to preserve biosignatures, utilizing both surface and drilling sampling techniques. They also highlighted in the article the necessity of developing new instruments specifically designed for the detection of biosignatures.

The Tianwen 3 mission will carry payloads developed through international cooperation, and China will collaborate with scientists from around the world to conduct joint research on Mars samples and detection data.

The country also plans to probe the Jovian system to investigate Jupiter's and its moons' evolutionary history during its Tianwen 4 mission.