China’s space agency has locked in a 2028 launch date for Tianwen-3, its first Mars sample-return mission, with plans to ...

A Chinese spacecraft built to collect specimens from an unexplored asteroid and return them to Earth successfully launched Wednesday from a military-run spaceport in the country’s mountainous interior ...

The new test proved the capability of a new propellant that will enhance the rocket's performance, making a sample return mission from Mars increasingly viable. Share on Facebook (opens in a new ...

What is not controversial is that NASA needs a new spacecraft capable of relaying communications from Mars to Earth. NASA’s best communications relay today is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which ...

For several years now the biggest space agencies in the Western world have been struggling to get going the Mars Sample Return mission, perhaps the most ambitious robotic space mission ever undertaken ...

As stated in Chapter 8, the proper design and implementation of planetary protection measures will ultimately be critical to the overall success of martian sample-return missions. Mission success can ...