China expedites mission to Mars, signals confidence in exploration

It sparks fears that Beijing may leverage its space abilities for political, military needs

- Michelle Ng

The space race to Mars is heating up, as China announced it would bring forward by two years its mission to bring samples from the planet back to Earth, signaling rising confidence in its abilities to carry out a highly complex interplanetary mission ahead of other nations.

Beijing plans to carry out its Tianwen-3 – or heavenly questions – mission to Mars “around 2028”, two years ahead of an earlier 2030 estimate. If successful, experts say this will be a historic first and solidify Beijing’s prowess in deep space exploration.

Meanwhile, a similar plan to retrieve samples from Mars by the US, China’s main rival in space exploration, has been hindered by major technical challenges and a ballooning budget.

Nasa’s sample-return mission to Mars has been thrown into uncertainty as an independent review found that the projected cost of the mission would balloon to US$11 billion (S$14.2 billion) and might only be completed as late as 2040.

Coupled with an optimal mission launch window that opens up every 26 months when the orbits of Mars and Earth are closest, there are concerns about the viability of the mission.

“With delays to Nasa’s sample-return mission, Beijing seems to have decided this is a race that it can win,” said Mr Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“It is hugely significant if China can pull off a sample-return mission from Mars before anyone else. It will be a history-making achievement,” he added.

Mr Liu Jizhong, chief designer of China’s Mars sample-return mission, unveiled the revised timeline for the Tianwen-3 mission at a space exploration conference in Huangshan, a city in east China’s Anhui province, on Sept 5.

The primary scientific goal of the mission, which will be carried out in 13 phases, is to search for signs of life, said Mr Liu.