China plans to bring Mars samples to Earth ahead of NASA.
Roket China, Tianwen-1. (YouTube/ China News Service)
Hitekno.com – China uncover plans to take Mars sample and bring it to Earth in 2031. A few years faster than NASA and ESA (European Space Agency).
As you know, NASA and the ESA have also planned to bring samples Mars to Earth. However, according to the plan, it will only be realized two years after China’s plan.
The target was announced in a presentation by Sun Zezhou, chief mission designer of the Mars orbiter and rover Tianwen 1 which arrived on the Red Planet in February 2021.
In his presentation on Monday (20/6/2022), Zezhou said, China is targeting a two-launch mission with takeoff scheduled for late 2028 and samples returning to Earth in July 2031.
“Complex multi-launch missions will have a simpler architecture compared to the NASA-ESA project, with one Mars landing and no rover sampling different sites,” Zezhou told SpaceNews, quoted from Space.com, Wednesday (22/6/2022).
Recently, NASA sought public input on a collaborative sample return plan with ESA, after the space agency decided to develop a second Mars lander due to the mission’s mass needs.
As a result, NASA-ESA’s Mars sample return mission had to be pushed back from 2031 to 2033.
The collaborative NASA-ESA mission will transport Mars samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover, which has explored the 45-kilometer-wide Jezero Crater since February 2021.
The samples will be taken by ESA’s robots and placed on top of NASA’s Mars climbing vehicle (MAV).
The MAV will then launch a capsule containing the sample into Mars orbit, where it will be captured by a European-made orbiter for delivery to Earth.
The Chinese mission will be more efficient, where samples are collected from a small area through a surface sampling and drilling process carried out by four-legged robots.
China itself already has experience in sending samples from the Moon, as well as considerable experience on Mars thanks to Tianwen 1, which was launched in July 2020.
That is China’s plan to bring Mars samples to Earth in 2031. If it works out on schedule, they’re ahead of NASA and ESA in doing so. (Suara.com/ Lintang Siltya Utami).
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