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With NASA’s plan faltering, China knows it can be first with Mars sample return
"China is likely to become the first country to return samples from Mars."
Public pronouncements by Chinese officials on future space missions typically come true, but China is embarking on challenging efforts to explore the Moon and Mars. The Perseverance rover currently on Mars is gathering several dozen specimens of rock powder, soil, and Martian air in cigar-shaped titanium tubes for eventual return to Earth. Liu, Tianwen-3's chief designer, said an attempt to retrieve samples from Mars is the most technically challenging space exploration mission since the Apollo program, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
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