Chinese academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, Wu Weiren, stated on the 24th that around 2030, China will launch the “Tianwen-3” spacecraft to implement a Mars sampling return mission, aiming to become the first country to accomplish a Mars sample return. He even mentioned a new timeline for the “Asteroid Defense Plan,” indicating that China plans to carry out a kinetic impact on an asteroid several tens of millions of kilometers away around 2027, altering its orbit.
The China Space Conference 2024 was held from April 23 to 26 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, where Wu Weiren made the aforementioned remarks at the main forum of the conference.
Wu Weiren explained that China plans to launch the “Tianwen-2” around 2025 to conduct flyby exploration and sample return of an asteroid about 40 million kilometers away from Earth. Around 2030, the “Tianwen-3” will be launched to carry out the Mars sampling return mission.
Wu Weiren revealed that China has begun planning for the construction of the world’s first Mars sample laboratory and is deepening the feasibility study of the “Tianwen-4” exploration mission, aiming to achieve exploration around Jupiter and its moons, followed by an arrival at Uranus. “Looking at the progress of various countries around the world, China is expected to become the first country to achieve a Mars sample return.”
It is noteworthy that in his speech, Wu Weiren further disclosed the content of the “Asteroid Defense Plan.” He said that the probability of an asteroid colliding with Earth is extremely low but the consequences could be catastrophic. Throughout history, asteroids have collided with Earth multiple times, causing significant disasters such as the extinction of dinosaurs.
Therefore, China has initiated the Asteroid Defense Plan, planning to carry out a kinetic impact on an asteroid several tens of millions of kilometers away around 2027, altering its orbit, and conducting impact effect evaluations in orbit, achieving precision impact, effective propulsion, measurable outcomes, and clear explanations.
Wu Weiren further introduced that by the middle of this century, China plans to launch a new type of powered spacecraft to fly to the edge of the solar system and conduct scientific exploration of unknown areas that are extremely distant, dark, and cold.
Last May, China officially announced its goal to achieve the first manned lunar landing by Chinese astronauts before 2030, initiating lunar scientific exploration and related technological experiments, breaking through key technologies such as manned lunar round trips, short-term lunar surface stays, and manned and robotic joint exploration, and completing multiple tasks such as landing, roaming, sampling, research, and return.
Chen Qi, director of the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory System of the National Space Administration, also stated last year that China has proposed a blueprint for near-Earth asteroid defense and plans to implement a kinetic impact on an asteroid by 2030, achieve deflection by 2030-2035, and have preliminary asteroid orbit control capabilities by 2045.
In terms of timing, Wu Weiren’s announcement for execution in 2027 has further advanced the planned timeline.
During the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference this year, Sun Zezhou, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and a researcher at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said that China plans to carry out Mars sampling return around 2030, and “from the current level of technological mastery, China already has the technical foundation.”