News Snapshot:
With a single Mars landing and no rovers sampling separate sites, the complicated, multi-launch mission will have a simpler design than the joint NASA-ESA project. In March, NASA announced plans to delay the next phase of its Mars Sample Return campaign and split a lander mission into two separate spacecraft to reduce the overall risk of the program. China’s mission, named Tianwen-3, will consist of two combinations: a lander and ascent vehicle, and an orbiter and return module. The combinations will launch separately on Long March 5 and Long March 3B rockets respectively. ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter would launch in...
