China’s Mars mission leaves the U.S. for space dust with NASA at least 4 years behind, reported the South China Morning Post.
During a recent media briefing, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said that the earliest arrival for the Perseverance samples is 2035. In contrast, China is poised to collect Martian samples and return them to Earth around 2031. China plans to carry out its Tianwen-3 mission through two launches around 2028.
Astrophysicist Quentin Parker from the University of Hong Kong said the race could represent “a Sputnik moment” – a reference to the Soviet Union’s launch of the first artificial satellite, which caught the U.S. by surprise in 1957. “China is leading NASA not just by one year, but by several years,” Parker said.