Our country plans to complete the return of Mars samples around 2030

On March 6th, Sun Zezhou, a representative of the National People's Congress and from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, recently introduced in an interview with reporters that our country will implement Mars sampling return around 2030. Sun Zezhou introduced that Mars is the closest planet to the earth in the solar system. Previously, our country has achieved the orbiting, landing and patrol exploration of Mars through the Tianwen-1 mission. The follow-up will implement Mars sampling return through the Tianwen-3 mission. Sun Zezhou said that our country has accumulated experience in four landings on the moon, one landing on Mars, and two extraterrestrial object sampling returns, which has laid the foundation for the implementation of Mars sampling return. However, due to the fact that Mars is far away from the earth and Mars and the moon are very different, many challenges are still faced.