China Collects Mars Samples... A Challenge to Space Exploration

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] China plans to collect samples from an asteroid near Earth around 2025 and embark on a comet exploration mission, Xinhua News Agency reported on the 13th.

Xu Hongliang, spokesperson for the China National Space Administration (CNSA), stated at a press conference the day before that China plans to carry out a mission to collect samples from Mars around 2030 and return them, as well as a mission to explore the Jovian system.

China plans to build a space station by the end of next year, where astronauts will stay long-term and conduct space science experiments.

Spokesperson Xu said that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021?2025), China will launch the Chang'e 6 and Chang'e 7 lunar probes to explore the environment and resources of the lunar polar regions and collect samples. The Chang'e 8 mission is also planned for the future.

China is ambitiously advancing its space ambitions, challenging the space exploration led by the United States and Russia. Previously, in December last year, Chang'e 5 safely returned to Earth with lunar samples.

Last month, China's Mars probe Tianwen-1 successfully achieved a soft landing, and on the 11th, the exploration rover "Zhurong" released images of Mars it had captured.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.