--- title: "China Announces Plan to Obtain Mars Rocks Two Years Before NASA" description: "China is hoping to leapfrog NASA by becoming the first nation to return Mars samples, SpaceNews reports, and by July 2031." date: "2022-06-21" modified: "2022-06-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-mars-rocks-before-nasa" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "china" - "mars" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # China Announces Plan to Obtain Mars Rocks Two Years Before NASA ![China is hoping to leapfrog NASA by becoming the first nation to return Mars samples, SpaceNews reports, and by July 2031.]() *\Image: CNSA\* ## Leapfrog NASA may have been the first country to successfully land a series of rovers on the Martian surface — but China is hoping to leapfrog the agency by becoming the first nation to return samples from the Red Planet back to Earth, [*SpaceNews* reports](). And given its impressive track record as of late — China became the second country to [land a rover on Mars](), back in 2020 — the Chinese space program stands a good chance of doing just that, leaving other spacefaring countries like the US and Russia in the dust. ## Tianwen-3 According to a recent presentation by Sun Zezhou, chief designer of the country's Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter and rover mission, China is hoping to kick off a Mars sample return mission called Tianwen-3 in late 2028, returning samples by July 2031 — two years before NASA's joint mission with the European Space Agency (ESO), according to *SpaceNews*. While NASA and the ESA were also initially hoping to bring back samples by July 2031, in an ambitious mission with a lot of moving parts including NASA's Perseverance rover, the ESA's Earth Return Orbiter is now unlikely to make it back to Earth until [at least 2033](), according to recent revisions. ## There and Back Again China's Tianwen-3 mission will be slightly less ambitious than those efforts. First, the country's Long March super heavy rockets will send a lander and ascent vehicle to Mars, with the former sampling the local soil and returning back to Earth with the help of the latter. The country is also building on a wealth of experience, having already sent a spacecraft called [Tianwen-1]() into Martian orbit, [landed a rover]() called Zhurong on the surface of the Red Planet, and [successfully retrieved lunar samples]() with its Chang'e-5 mission. While NASA is [bogged down]() with other notable projects like returning astronauts to the lunar surface, in other words, China is quickly emerging as the country to watch when it comes to space exploration. **READ MORE:** [China aims to bring Mars samples to Earth 2 years before NASA, ESA mission]() \[*SpaceNews*\] **More on Mars samples:** *[NASA's Mars Rover Successfully Shakes Off Obstructing Pebbles]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()