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China Mars

How China Hopes to Fly Mars Samples to Earth Two Years Before NASA and ESA (spacenews.com) 88

Posted by EditorDavid from the there-and-back-again dept.
"China's Mars sample return mission aims to collect samples from the Red Planet and deliver them to Earth in 2031, or two years ahead of a NASA and ESA joint mission," reports SpaceNews: Lifting off in late 2028... the complex, multi-launch mission will have simpler architecture in comparison with the joint NASA-ESA project, with a single Mars landing and no rovers sampling different sites. However, if successful, it would deliver to Earth the first collected Martian samples; an objective widely noted as one of the major scientific goals of space exploration....

The mission will build on the Mars entry, descent and landing technologies and techniques demonstrated by Tianwen-1 in May 2021, as well as the regolith sampling, automated lunar orbit rendezvous and docking, and high velocity atmospheric reentry success achieved by the 2020 Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission.... Landing on Mars would take place around September 2029. Sampling techniques will include surface sampling, drilling and mobile intelligent sampling, potentially using a four-legged robot.

The ascent vehicle will consist of two stages, using either solid or liquid propulsion, and will be required to reach a speed of 4.5 kilometers per second, according to the presentation. After rendezvous and docking with the waiting orbiter, the spacecraft will depart Mars orbit in late October 2030 for a return to Earth in July 2031.

Sun Zezhou [chief designer of the Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter and rover mission], added that the Tianwen-1 orbiter will conduct an aerobraking test in Mars orbit later this year as part of the sample return mission preparation.
Thanks to Slashdot reader Hmmmmmm for sharing the story!
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How China Hopes to Fly Mars Samples to Earth Two Years Before NASA and ESA More

How China Hopes to Fly Mars Samples to Earth Two Years Before NASA and ESA

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  • The days of America leading the world in technology development are over now. China is now emerging as a leader, a vanguard in technology. We are too busy in-fighting politically and China has taken advantage of this. I am not surprised that the "Middle Kingdom" and world' number 2 economy is overtaking us.

    • Re:The days are over .... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Sunday June 26, 2022 @09:58AM (#62651838) Homepage Journal

      The days of America leading the world in technology development are over now.

      Eh, maybe. There is something to what you say [technologyreview.com], but America still leads several tech sectors [cnbc.com] at this moment. The really critical thing is keeping the immigrants coming. They have always had an outsized effect on America's technical development. This strongly implies deficiency in our educational system, or even in the culture itself (by not valuing education more highly.)

      If we turn America into a theocratic shithole and continue to fail to improve its infrastructure, making it more of a shithole in other ways, then it will surely lose its appeal and we will lose these highly motivated immigrants to other nations. They're not going to move to China either, so this represents an opportunity for other nations.

      The whole future of the nation is literally at stake right now, and it's not looking good. Republicans have really leaned into gerrymandering and packing courts, and have succeeded to a truly disturbing degree. They are now proposing a national abortion ban [rollingstone.com]. What's next, reimplementing segregation? This country is about to go to hell in a Catholic handbasket.

      • Re:The days are over .... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday June 26, 2022 @10:08AM (#62651866)

        The whole future of the nation is literally at stake right now, and it's not looking good. Republicans have really leaned into gerrymandering and packing courts, and have succeeded to a truly disturbing degree.

        Pretty much so. From a brief look at other theocracies, it its absolutely clear what this will do long-term. Religion is the big destroyer and always has been. And these people have no _honor_ and no restraint. Because they deeply belief they are on a mission from "god", they think any and all means are acceptable.

        • Although religion plays a significant part in the erosion of the quality of rational life in the USA, there are major economic, financial, and military factors involved in problem and these factors are major elements in the degradation of the entire culture. Problems of the weather and irrationality in preserving fundamentals of life on the planet are already causing basic disruptions with little reasonable response to turn things around in human agendas. I have no idea of what impacts this might have on NA

          • Re:The days are over .... (Score:5, Insightful)

            by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday June 26, 2022 @12:25PM (#62652120)

            Sure. Religion is not a root cause. The root-cause are people that do not understand how reality works and people that do not respect others. Well, quite often these are the same people.

            What religion is an accelerant for spreading stupidity and ignorance and all other forms of ignoring reality. Religion basically makes any crisis worse and it gives power to basically insane authoritarian people. Sure, those that do the channeling (the "useful idiots" as they are called in other contexts, with religion preferring the euphemism "believers") are pretty much insane and mentally dysfunctional as well, but without religion to organize them, they would be more of a quiet harmless insane and would not bother other people much. But throw religion in the mix and they suddenly can push things that any modern, insightful person can only call "evil".

            • As I mentioned, the depth of the problem is far more pervasive in the several fundamental areas of current and historical varieties of society than mere religion. I am no friend of the way religion persuades people to surrender their reason to the domination of hierarchical fantasies but human society has suffered the domination by a swindling elite for thousands of years and this is so consistent that it is far from accidental.

            • Religion is both symptom and disease. It not only provides opportunities for abusers to abuse, and for people to be radicalized, but in general weakens victims' defenses against bullshit. Even some religious types acknowledge that the theory that religious people are easy targets for fraud [christiancentury.org] holds water, though they naturally stop short of actually acknowledging that it might be because they have already learned to believe things without evidence.

              I just don't know how anyone can imagine that learning to accep

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by gweihir ( 88907 )

                Well, why indeed? The usual "explanation" is of course that they have truth and that _their_ "invisible man in the sky" is the real one. The simple fact that the evidence available they have is not any better than that of the competition and worse than that of the agnostics already demonstrates to anybody with a working mind what is really going on, but independent thinkers and people that can actually fact-check are a minority in the human race, at maybe something like 10-15%. The interesting thing is that

          • We currently have a sitting SCOTUS justice who has said... publicly and on the record, mind you... that she considers the whole point of her legal career to be to tear down the republic, abolish democracy, and impose a theocratic monarchy... a "kingdom of god" as she put it... in its place. And we just took a massive step in that direction a couple of days ago. Well, the world already HAS a kingdom of god. It's called Saudi Arabia. And, sorry not sorry, I don't fancy the idea of living there. So yeah,

            • Since it is recognized from the beginning that the church and state separation is fundamental from the beginning of the country, this open statement would seem to me to be an openly treasonous agenda and, it seems to me it disqualifies an official from remaining in office. Is the government so broken that it cannot defend itself?

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by gweihir ( 88907 )

                Is the government so broken that it cannot defend itself?

                Looks like it. I mean, this person is at the very least an open liar in her oath of office and an enemy of the state. But there seems to be no way to remove her.

                • The term stupidity is an easy cover for a very complex social attitude. There are several pejoratives in that category and they can be very dangerous, Although I mention my age frequently, it is a fault to cover several odd things I have discovered about myself and many others. As we mature, people formulate ideas and practices that they use to control their lives and make them simpler. The first time we tie our shoelaces or ride a bike or drive a car, we have to do a great deal of new thinking and it's ra

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Capitalism is a religion in the US.

          • That doesn't make any sense. People in the United States are becoming less religious by the year. According to your analysis, that would improve the "quality of rational life" in the United States.

            • The world is full of semi-functional social interactions that have results both good and bad, Our whole interactive disciplines are based on faiths of various kinds that establish value systems we assume are functional realities only because they are socially accepted, Religions and theology are only one of them but many are ecologically devastating in some way.
        • It just amazes me that in this day and age people still believe in booming voices from the sky. My mother dragged me to church and Sunday school for my entire childhood. My conclusion, these people are bat-shit crazy and as far as I'm concerned it's a form of child abuse. "The booming voice will sentence you to eternal hell if you are not good, but the booming voice loves you." WTF??

          • What's really tiresome is the ones that won't admit that it's just anti-scientific. They cite religious scientists as some kind of counter-evidence when that's explicitly not how that works, or how anything works at all. Faith is explicitly not about facts, but about belief. Whether it affects your ability to be an effective scientist or not is a debate as old as science, but when people don't even follow the admonishments of the primary figure their religion is named for it's pretty clear they don't believ

            • I gave up trying to have conversations with true believers. My mother-in-law is a true believer, dinosaurs 6000 years go, etc, the whole bit. It wrecks my brain and makes me truly sad. Luckily her daughter, my wife, has the same outlook on this non-sense as I do. We are both autistic but not diagnosed until well after we were married. Maybe autism is nature's answer to resolving and finally removing the religious shackles from society? Our children have never had to go through the agony of religion.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by gweihir ( 88907 )

                Well, the problem is something like this: 10% completely inaccessible to rational argument, 65% will follow whatever their in-group and about 25% accessible to rational argument with 10...15% in the last group able to generate rational argument. That cannot go well. Note that no amount of education or demonstration of facts will actually do anything for the 65% and that religious ideas a contagious because they appear to be simple. (Fun fact: Religions are subject to evolution. Those still around survived b

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Well, that means you are a member of an elusive minority, the "independent thinkers". It seems that people like you (and me) differ from the majority by being able to separate fantasy and reality. Does not even seem to be a feature of intelligence, but rather a special quality of the person. Fortunately I never grew up religious and I always found these stories about a "God" to be rather tedious and badly written fairy-tales. The one time I tried to actually read the bible, I had to stop early on because my

            • I was forced to attend catechism in my early teen years. I questioned everything, I mean EVERYTHING. The pastors were at a complete loss as to what to do with me. They simply could not rationally answer any of my questions. So in frustration they just confirmed me into the church without having to finish. I just couldn't win against the god machine. As soon as I turned 18 I left the house so I would never have to attend another religious event again. One side of the family is hard core Catholic, the other h

        • No matter how wrong you think they are, they know they're right.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Well, one of the earliest solid results from philosophy is that certainty is the enemy of insight and seeing reality for what it is. This one is only getting more and more supporting evidence as the human tragedy muddles on.

        • Pretty much so. From a brief look at other theocracies, it its absolutely clear what this will do long-term. Religion is the big destroyer and always has been. And these people have no _honor_ and no restraint. Because they deeply belief they are on a mission from "god", they think any and all means are acceptable.

          I personally can't wait for "Because God told me to!" to be a valid legal defense.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Pretty much so. From a brief look at other theocracies, it its absolutely clear what this will do long-term. Religion is the big destroyer and always has been. And these people have no _honor_ and no restraint. Because they deeply belief they are on a mission from "god", they think any and all means are acceptable.

            I personally can't wait for "Because God told me to!" to be a valid legal defense.

            It will have to be "God told me to!" plus approval of those in power in the sect that rules things. But yes, looks like we are going to see this level of insanity in the not too distant future.

      • One other big problem are the contractors building these projects for the Gov't. Their main emphasis is on keeping the contract as long as possible vice getting the job done and moving on to the next project. This results in pretty much the standard "behind schedule and over budget" that you see for a majority of big Gov't contracts and some of the poor workmanship coming out of the billions of dollars spent for something, because then they can say "hey, we can fix that for you for another couple billion

      • Worth mentioning it doesn't even matter if America is leading the world or not, as long as the rest of the world agrees that invading other countries and killing people is a bad idea. The more people inventing stuff, the better.

        • Worth mentioning it doesn't even matter if America is leading the world or not, as long as the rest of the world agrees that invading other countries and killing people is a bad idea.

          That's a manifold conversation. America loves to invade other countries and kill people there, and insist it was necessary, usually after a whole bunch of tampering with governments in the region that ultimately contributed to the problem in question.

    • I don't have any mod points so I'll just leave this LOL!!

    • Now its some just some random south African dude leading the world in technology development. Apparently all 1 needs is freedom and honesty.

    • The days of America leading the world in technology development are over now.

      Yes because another country proposing something is exactly the same as them doing it 6 years from now. [sarcasm]Nothing could ever occur that would affect that timeline like technical problems[/sarcam]. Also even if China succeeds at this single rover delivering samples from Mars, even the article acknowledges that the NASA-ESA mission will deliver samples from multiple sites whereas this Chinese mission can only deliver samples from one site. And this is, by the way, after NASA paved the way for Mars missi

      • I think you'll find it was done by the Soviet Union for the Venus landings and the American's stole their invention.

  • Who cares? (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by gweihir ( 88907 )

    There is nothing of any worth on Mars. Living in the middle of a dessert here (and we have plenty) is easier, safer, massively cheaper and a lot more pleasant.

    • I don't want to move there any time soon, because I like going outside. But outside is getting shittier :)

      We don't know what we might find on Mars, though. It's sensible to send some humans, if they want to go.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        We don't know what we might find on Mars, though. It's sensible to send some humans, if they want to go.

        I think by now it is pretty clear what is there: Nothing.

        • We've literally only scratched (and made a number of dents in) the surface of Mars. We're still finding older things on this planet by digging deeper than the places we've previously found things.

          Maybe all we find there is different red rocks, but I still think we should take a stab at it... more or less literally.

          None of the stuff we've sent yet can really explore any of the really interesting features of Mars, either. We need something that can do the job of a rock-climbing geologist. If we can get that f

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            What I'd like though (besides a unicorn pegasus pony) is for the amount of money we let billionaires have to be limited by the needs of other humans

            Well, that will be one of the "make-or-break" questions the human race will have to find an answer to. At the moment it does not look good.

          • We're still finding older things on this planet by digging deeper than the places we've previously found things.

            Generally, no. Generally we find older things by looking in different places - often using our understanding of the geology and stratigraphy of an area to deduce where an older (or younger, depending on requirements) horizon is more like to intersect the surface.

            The horizontal surface (+/-) -- in response to your comment about a "rock-climbing geologist". As a working geologist and an occasional

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jwhyche ( 6192 )

          I think by now it is pretty clear what is there: Nothing.

          How do you know? Have you been there yet? I'm going to go out on a limb and say ,"No you haven't."

          So since you haven't been there you can't say there is nothing there.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            I can. Your nice fallacy just demonstrates a deficiency on your side.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by jwhyche ( 6192 )

              Of course you can. I suppose you believe the earth is flat and the sun and moon are just reflections off the fermentation. There are whole youtube channels what warn us about people like you.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shmlco ( 594907 )

        Yeah, but now we're going to have to worry about Martian viruses escaping from Chinese labs... ;)

        (I'll let myself out now.)

    • Re: Who cares? (Score:5, Funny)

      by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Sunday June 26, 2022 @10:34AM (#62651916)

      I wish I lived in the middle of a dessert. That would be sweet!

    • Well... There might be clear evidence of past, of possibly even current life. That would answer one of the great unknowns about the universe. If the life clearly had developed independently from earth life, then it would be hugely interesting to see how it was similar and how different.

      As far as colonization, our ancestors lived near watering holes where they could catch game. We don't do that anymore. Its not clear what is important to an advanced civilization.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        As far as colonization, our ancestors lived near watering holes where they could catch game. We don't do that anymore. Its not clear what is important to an advanced civilization.

        Actually, we pretty much still do that. The distances have gotten larger, but human life still centers around sources of drinkable water.

      • It's still water, food and warmth. Because without those, advanced or not, you die.

      • If the life clearly had developed independently from earth life,

        Looking at fossils is something (one of a number of things) I get paid to do. I can't think of anything that would be evident in a body fossil to a rover equipped with a microscope and a XRF [wikipedia.org] composition sensor, which would tell me that this fossil had developed independently from Earth.

        I can't think of anything in the trace fossil range that would do the job either.

        To answer that question well, you're going to need molecular fossils. Which yo

  • Neither China, nor USA leads the space race. SpaceX does.

  • They will probably set up surveillance cameras to spy on any Martians that may be there, and claim Mars as part of China's territory too.

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