Preface
In 2021, the mainland planned to achieve a manned landing in 2033, while the United States originally planned for 2023, but due to various reasons, it was postponed to 2040.
Previously, China had already announced that the 2030 Mars rover would complete soil sampling, while NASA announced some time ago that Mars sampling would only be achieved in 2040.
This also shows that China's aerospace industry has long been ahead of the United States for nearly 10 years!
Sampling program of China's Mars rover
The universe has always been an existence that countless people yearn for, and the continent has also begun to march to Mars after the landing of the lunar exploration rover.
In 2020, the Mars probe independently developed by the mainland, Tianwen-1, was successfully launched, and the mainland officially started its journey to Mars from this moment.
After nearly three months of flying, Tianwen-1 finally successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area in the southern part of the Martian Utopia Plain on May 15, 2021.
Some people may wonder, why is Tianwen-1 flying so slowly, what is it grinding?
In fact, it is because Tianwen-1 has to conduct a comprehensive survey of the topography, bad weather and complex terrain of the pre-landing area to ensure that it can finally land steadily.
On March 29, 2024, the continental aerospace science and technology research team said that the mainland plans to complete Mars sampling around 2030.
It also means that China is getting closer to its own space exploration.
Because today, more than 40 Mars probes have been launched around the world, but none of them have successfully returned.
In fact, the continent is not the first country to land on Mars, and the American Mars rover "Perseverance" successfully landed on Mars on February 18, 2021.
Originally, the U.S. plan was to complete Mars sampling in 2035, but on April 15, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson broke down and said that Mars sampling would only be completed in 2040.
So, what happened in the middle of the process that caused NASA's program to be delayed?
Nasa宣布火星采样计划推迟
On February 18, 2021, the U.S. Perseverance spacecraft landed on Mars and also sampled 21 cores, two regolith samples and one atmospheric sample.
However, Perseverance needs to go through a "terrifying seven minutes" before landing on Mars.
During these seven minutes, Perseverance needs to enter the atmosphere, the parachute opens, the engine drives down, and the landing gear is lowered.
Because during these seven minutes, the ground operator could not contact the rover, so it could only rely on Perseverance's own calculations to land on Mars.
Fortunately, in the end, Perseverance survived the "seven minutes of terror" safely and completed the Mars landing.
However, it is worth noting that Perseverance's mission is to complete the "Mars sampling", not the "Mars sample return"!
The soil we saw sampled by Perseverance actually needed to be brought back by the returner later.
In the US NASA plan, they will complete the Mars sample return plan in 2035.
However, the fact is that on April 15, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the plan would be postponed until 2040.
The reason is "lack of funds"!
Landing in 2021 and bringing back soil samples in 2040, it can only be said that NASA is a little unable to keep up......
Because the mainland also said that it plans to achieve manned boarding in 2033!
Maybe the astronauts on the mainland will be able to see the American Mars probe on Mars!
China will have a manned launch in 2033
On June 25, 2021, Reuters reported that China hopes to be able to conduct its first manned exploration of Mars in 2033, followed by a follow-up exploration program.
The reason for this plan is that in May, the mainland Mars probe "Tianwen-1" successfully landed on Mars, which also gave China's aerospace a lot of hope.
Wang Xiaojun, President of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said at the 2021 Global Space Exploration Conference:
The planned departure time of the continental manned Mars exploration mission is about 2033, 2035, 2037, etc.
As early as 2018, the United States said that it would achieve a manned landing on Mars in 25 years!
At the beginning, it was said that 2024, and then it was postponed to 2033, and until finally 2040, the plan for a manned landing in the United States has been changing.
Why it has been postponed is actually very easy to understand.
Although the United States completed a manned landing on the moon as early as the last century, the difficulty of landing on Mars and the technical difficulty of landing on the moon are completely incomparable.
Even if NASA has a high level of experience, that doesn't mean there won't be accidents along the way, and it's clear that NASA isn't willing to take the risk.
The farthest distance between Mars and Earth is 400 million kilometers, and if astronauts were to set off for Mars, the journey time alone could take 6-7 months.
However, although we Chinese aerospace engineers know that this task is difficult to complete, we still have to do it!
Although China's aerospace project started late, this does not mean that China's aerospace will never be able to catch up with others!
In addition to manned landings on the moon and fire, China's achievements in the field of aerospace in recent years are far more than that......
China's aerospace industry is gradually moving to the forefront of the world
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched its first artificial satellite, 66 years after now.
The United States was the first country in the world to land on the moon, and the only one at present.
In contrast, China's pace in space is relatively slow.
It was only in 1970 that the mainland sent its own artificial satellite "Dongfanghong 1" into space.
However, a late start does not mean that it will always lag behind, until 2021, the mainland launched 55 rockets throughout the year, surpassing the United States to become the world's first for the first time in terms of quantity.
Not only did it surpass the United States, but the mainland also broke the world record in 2021!
These are all remarkable achievements in China's space industry, and the mainland also established its own space station at this time to facilitate the mainland's astronauts to carry out space operations.
In fact, in the midst of this, the mainland has also gone through a lot of arduous processes.
Since the establishment of the project in 1992, the mainland's aerospace industry has experienced from scratch and from weak to strong.
In an interview with Caijing, Zheng Zena, the person in charge of Jiangsu Shenlan Aerospace Co., Ltd., was also very excited: "The development of China's aerospace technology is becoming more and more mature!"
These can also be seen from the frequency of Chinese astronauts going to space, from once every two or three years at the beginning to several times a year now, the frequency of astronauts going to space is getting faster and faster.
Not only that, but astronauts are staying in space for longer and longer periods of time, and at first they may only stay for one day, but now they will stay in space for hundreds of days basically every time.
The longer and longer stay in space also means that the mainland's progress in space technology is becoming more and more obvious!
In the future, the mainland will also be able to create more brilliance in the aerospace field!
Sources of information:
Why is it that the mainland's Tianwen-1 has attracted much attention three years after its launch?
The continent plans to complete the return of Mars samples around 2030
Seven minutes of terror! The US "Perseverance" successfully landed on Mars for the first time
China's space dream, where does the built space station come from and where is it going?
Foreign media attention: China plans to land a manned person on Mars in 2033 - Xinhua News Agency
NASA confirms: The United States plans to land on Mars in 2033, and astronauts will survive there for two years - interface news