China progresses plans for Mars sample return, asteroid flyby and more launch sites

Date:
Fri, 18 Sep 2026 21:58:14 +0000

Description:
As China integrates crewed and robotic missions to further its lunar exploration program, it is The post China progresses plans for Mars sample return, asteroid flyby and more launch sites appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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As China integrates crewed and robotic missions to further its lunar exploration program, it is also advancing plans to return the first samples collected from Mars. Closer to Earth, a student-led spacecraft is taking
shape for a 2029 flyby of the near-Earth asteroid Apophis.

While investigating recent flight failures, China plans to further expand its spaceports, including support for an increase in sea launches.

Tianwen-3 mission

Chinas Tianwen-3 Mars Sample Return mission has entered the prototype development phase, with a number of scientific preparations underway, according to the projects Chief Scientist and Chinese Academy of Sciences academician, Hou Zengqian. The Tianwen-3 lander will drill up to two meters below the Martian surface. (Credit: CCTV)

The Tianwen-3 mission is currently targeting a 2028 launch aboard two Chang Zheng 5 vehicles, conducting sampling on the surface in 2030 and returning samples to Earth around 2031. The missions primary scientific goal is to search for traces of past life on Mars and could become the worlds first Mars sample return mission.

The project poses various technical challenges as well as scientific ones, as the team considers where and how to sample, methods of transferring the samples, and ensuring they do not become contaminated. The overall approach
is reminiscent of NASAs Mars Sample Return architecture shared in 2022,
albeit without a rover pre-collecting samples from a wider range of
locations.

A lander will drill for samples and load them into an onboard small launcher that will carry them to orbit. A robotic arm on the awaiting orbiter would then retrieve the samples and load them into a return capsule that will separate and return them to Earth. The Tianwen-3 mission will launch samples to an awaiting orbiter and send them to Earth inside a capsule. (Credit:
CCTV)

The process is far more daunting than lunar sampling, Hou noted, not least because Mars is significantly further away. The project aims to drill two meters into the surface to collect subsurface samples, which will be
extremely difficult. Sampling from this depth better preserves the primordial information and minimizes impacts from surface radiation, oxidation and weathering on potential biosignatures.

Eight candidate landing sites have been selected, considering factors such as geological age, water history, habitability and the potential for obtaining around 500 grams of high-value scientific samples.

The project will benefit from the wealth of data collected by the Tianwen-1 orbiter over the last five years. The imagery from this orbiter is being collated into a global geological map of the red planet, similar to the maps of the Moon created from Change imagery. This 1:5,000,000-scale map will combine high-resolution imagery, spectroscopy and other multimodal
information and is expected to be completed before the end of 2028.

Samples will initially be analyzed in the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory
in Anhui province, and later distributed more widely to scientists. Change 6 lunar samples presented to the United Nations for permanent display in
Vienna. (Credit: CCTV)

Chinese lunar exploration program

China officially handed over samples from the Change 6 mission to the lunar far side to the United Nations this month. The samples, collected in June 2024, will be exhibited on permanent display at the United Nations offices in Vienna.

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) is now additionally overseeing uncrewed robotic lunar missions previously managed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), starting with the Change 7 mission. Personnel, resources, and knowledge are now being pooled together to benefit the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.

The planned Change 7 launch was delayed in August, following unfavorable
local weather and, with unusually restrictive timing constraints, could no longer fly in its planned 2026 window. Its solar-powered lander and rover
must reach the lunar south pole during a period of prolonged sunlight, while the low angle of the Sun must also provide suitable illumination for navigation and landing. Missing the tightly linked launch and landing windows has now pushed the mission to no earlier than early 2027, rather than simply delaying it by a few days or weeks. A Chang Zheng 5 stands prepared to launch Change 7 mission in August, which has since been delayed to 2027. (Credit: CMSA)

Learnings and hardware from the Change missions will inform the design of future cargo landers, set to fly between 2031 and 2035. Unconfirmed rumors circulated this month around Change 8 being cancelled, or its instruments being diverted to other earlier lunar missions, following comments by one
team at Septembers Europlanet Science Congress.

The mission had been designed to explore in-situ resource utilization near
the lunar south pole, including experiments intended to demonstrate technologies for extracting and using local resources, such as turning lunar regolith into useful construction materials. It would work alongside Change 7 to lay the groundwork for Chinas planned International Lunar Research
Station.

The mission attracted extensive international participation. CNSA selected 10 collaborative projects involving 11 countries and regions, with 200 kg of payload capacity made available to overseas partners. These include Pakistans first lunar rover and a Turkish exploration rover, alongside instruments and experiments from Russia, Italy, Thailand, Bahrain, Egypt, and Hong Kong each of which has previously partnered on Change missions. They are joined by experiments from Iran, South Africa, and Peru. Change 8 is currently officially scheduled for launch around 2029, targeting the Leibnitz-Beta Plateau near the lunar south pole. Rendering of Change 8 on the Moon.
(Credit: CNSA)

Elsewhere, Tsinghua Universitys Student-led Threatening Asteroid Reconnaissance of Tsinghua (START) mission to intercept asteroid Apophis has now moved from review to the build stage. The 300 kg craft will launch in early 2028 aboard a ZhuQue-3, performing initial checkouts in LEO before raising its orbit to 31,600 km using low-cost solar electric propulsion.

The craft will perform a high-speed (8.74 km/s) flyby of the asteroid in
April 2029 during its closest encounter with Earth, passing within 7 km of
its target. Using high-cadence downlinks, imagery and data are expected to be returned within seven days.

Additional launch infrastructure

With Falcon 9 Starlink missions no longer flying from Florida, China launched more times than the Space Coast over the 30 days leading up to the
publication of this article in mid-September. The count was still three short of the US total of 13 launches. As an increasing number of launch providers prepare newer vehicles for flight, or ramp up their cadence, China is
planning even more launch infrastructure. Proposed future pad layout in Wenchang from April 2025, with the third phase to the left. (Credit: CCTV)

The commercial spaceport in Wenchang is moving into a third phase of development, now that its third and fourth pads are near completion. The Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Company (HICAL), which manages the site, plans a further four universal pads at the site during this next expansion. Commercial pads 3 and 4 could potentially host a launch
before the year is out.

Work is also nearing completion on a third launch complex (LC-301) at the Wenchang Space Launch Site, with the shutter doors now attached to the two nearby vehicle assembly buildings. The pair will eventually house the two Chang Zheng 10 vehicles that will launch Chinas crewed Mengzhou capsule and Lanyue lander for a lunar landing attempt before the end of the decade. While crew access arms are yet to be installed at LC-301, the pad is first expected to host the maiden launch of the single-core Chang Zheng 10A next year.

Meanwhile, iSpace is getting ready to start expanding its launch vehicle processing facilities at Wenchang next month, where it will work further on the companys partially reusable Shuang Quxian-3 (Hyperbola-3).

HICAL is additionally planning to have completed the first of two planned droneships for offshore recovery of first stages by the end of the year. Capable of operating in sea state 4 (waves between 1.25 and 2.5 meters), the vessel is capable of 30 to 40 recovery missions per year with a roughly seven-day recovery cycle. Orienspaces Yinli 1 (Gravity 1) launches from
Yellow Sea on Sept. 15. (Credit: Xinhua)

Increase in sea launches

Chinas first sea launch took place over seven years ago in June 2019, when a Chang Zheng 11 (CZ-11) carried seven satellites to orbit from the Yellow Sea. Since then, 28 sea launches have been conducted, using the CZ-11 alongside CASCs Jielong-3, Galactic Energys Gushenxing 1 (Ceres-1S) and Orienspaces Yinli-1 (Gravity-1), which most recently launched on Sept. 16.

CAS Space now plans to perform the first sea-launch of its Lijian-1 (Kinetica-1) after trials in August aboard the Dongfang Hangtiangang ship in the South China Sea. The company envisages sea-launches offering customers more flexible target orbits, complementing monthly sun-synchronous missions from the inland Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Construction began in late August to build a commercial sea spaceport in the Minhang District of Shanghai. Construction is estimated to take seven months, with sizeable vehicle storage and integration buildings alongside the Huangpu River. Vehicles would be transported from the spaceport using either the
river or nearby canals to an offshore launch site. This new Shanghai
Spaceport will begin sea launches in 2027, complementing the established Haiyang Oriental Spaceport in Shandong province, while another is being considered to the south in Guangdong. Space Epochs Yuanxingzhe-1 prototype vehicle prepares for its sea-recovery test flight in May 2025. (Credit: Space Epoch)

Following Series B financing, Space Epochs Yuanxingzhe-1 reportedly targets a maiden flight before the end of the year, with commercial launches starting
in 2027. Constructed in stainless steel, the vehicle measures 66 m high and 4.2 m in diameter. The company claims it could carry 14,000 kg to low-Earth orbit, 9,000 kg to a 1,100 km orbit when expended, and 7,000 kg when recovered.

Space Epoch successfully flew a vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) test with a prototype in May at the Oriental Spaceport in Shandong. The demonstration used a nearly 27 m test vehicle, which reached around 2.5 km altitude and was successfully recovered from the sea after a controlled splashdown for analysis. The forthcoming maiden flight would again target a controlled splashdown, which will inform future plans for catching later boosters using a recovery platform.

Galactic Energy showed plans earlier in the year to catch its Zhishenxing-2 (Pallas-2) using a tower with catch arms at sea. The company released new renders of that vehicle in single- and triple-core configurations this month, both featuring an interstage that implies it would utilize hot staging. Pallas-1 launches on its maiden flight on Sept. 1. (Credit: Galactic Energy)

The company recently completed long-duration testing of its new-generation 100-ton-class Cangqiong-90 (CQ-90) engine. The CQ-90 burns liquid kerosene
and oxygen using the gas generator cycle, and would power this new vehicle.

The company successfully conducted the maiden launch of its Zhishenxing-1 (Pallas-1) on Sept. 1 from a dedicated launch pad at Jiuquan. Galactic Energy intends to land and recover the boosters on future missions, once development has been completed on a throttleable version of the Cangqiong-50 engine.

Recent launch failures

A Chang Zheng 7A exploded just over a minute after launching from Wenchang in mid-August, carrying the ChinaSat 4B satellite. This, along with the fragmentation of a second Chang Zheng 6C second stage in orbit and other program delays, prompted the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) to issue a declaration that it faced a severe quality situation across its programs and that it has ordered more rigorous investigations and tighter quality control. Tianlong-3 in the assembly building. (Credit: Space Pioneer)

Meanwhile, Space Pioneers review of the Tianlong-3 failure in April traced
the anomaly to a liquid oxygen leak on the vehicles first stage, where a fire then developed. While both stages separated, this occurred at around 40 km in altitude rather than the intended 70 km. The second stage lost control
shortly after ignition, ending the mission.

Nonetheless, the flight verified the majority of hardware items the company set out to test, it reported. The findings are being applied to a second vehicle, which could potentially launch in the final quarter of this year.

(Lead image: Landspaces ZhuQue-3 seen lifting off during its second flight
on Aug. 19, will carry the START spacecraft to orbit. Credit: Landspace)



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