Today, Liu Jizhong, deputy to the National People's Congress and chief designer of the Tianwen-3 mission, said in an interview with reporters on the 12th that the Tianwen-3 Mars sampling return mission has achieved breakthrough results in relevant key technologies through early technical research and in-depth demonstration.The main line of the project is currently developing preliminary prototypes, and plans to move to the full prototype development stage this year. All work is progressing smoothly.
He also revealed: "The Tianwen-3 mission is a very challenging, innovative and leading major aerospace project. It is expected to realize the first Mars sample return for mankind, greatly promote the high-quality integrated development of space science, space technology and space applications, and fully demonstrate the creativity and international influence of the Chinese nation."
According to reports, the Tianwen-3 mission mainly involves three aspects: engineering, technology and science.
In terms of engineering, the orbiter, returner, lander, ascender, and server are being developed to form an orbit-return assembly and a landing suit assembly.
In terms of technology, the focus is on breakthroughs in key technologies such as fire surface sampling and packaging, fire surface take-off and ascent, ring-fire orbit rendezvous, sample capture and transfer, and planetary protection, so as to prepare early technical reserves for future continuous exploration and application of Mars.
In terms of science, we will explore potential traces of life on Mars (origin of life), explore the geological and internal structural characteristics of Mars (Mars geological structure), explore the circulation and escape process of Mars' atmosphere (Mars atmosphere), and make major discoveries in the study of the habitability evolution of terrestrial planets.
It is reported that the Tianwen-3 probe is composed of a landing assembly (lander, ascender, server) and an orbit-return assembly (orbiter, returner). It is planned to be launched around 2028 and return to Earth with Mars samples around 2030.
It is planned to be equipped with 6 domestic scientific payloads, including the lander equipped with two scientific payloads of ultra-wideband detection radar and Raman fluorescence spectrometer; the server is planned to be equipped with two scientific payloads of subsidence ENA aurora detector and magnetometer; the orbiter is equipped with two scientific payloads of mid-infrared ultra-fine imaging spectrometer and Mars Global Multicolor Camera.