China unveils planning of Martian mission

China is set to retrieve Martian samples around 2031, with its primary scientific objective focused on detecting signs of life on the red planet, as announced by the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory on Wednesday.

China's Martian Samples Retrieval Program. File photo

The Tianwen-3 mission, planned for around 2028 through two launches, aims to accomplish a unified operation of landing, sample collection, and return, using the landing site as the sampling location. In a recent article published in the November issue of the National Science Review, scientists from the lab detailed their exploration strategy.