China Plans to Launch Its First Mars Lander Mission Next Year

Collecting Rocks

China won't be the first country to retrieve lunar soil samples at the end of 2019 as part of its upcoming Chang'e-5 mission — NASA pulled off that feat in 1969.

But if all goes according to plan, the country could make history with an even more ambitious endeavor, by bringing back samples of Martian soil in 2030.

Mars 2020

China's space agency renewed its promises to launch future Mars exploration missions — including a mission to the Red Planet as early as next year.

And if the country's recent space exploration missions are anything to go by, if it might just make it there. China's National Space Administration successfully landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon earlier this year, and even managed to sprout a couple of cotton seeds inside an enclosed container.

More Mars Rovers

But one step at a time. China's HX-1 — a six-wheeled lander slated for touchdown on Mars in 2021 — will explore the internal structure of the planet without grabbing a souvenir to bring back to Earth. It will however be a key step in China's future efforts to bring back samples from Mars by 2030.

Getting there — retrieving samples or not — is far from easy to say the least. But considering the successes of China's recent lunar missions, it might not be as much of a stretch.

READ MORE: China wants to launch to Mars next year — part of an ambitious plan to bring the first Martian soil samples back to Earth [Business Insider]

More on China's lunar missions: Bad News: That Moon Plant Everybody Was Talking About Is Dead