The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has announced plans for international cooperation in the Tianwen-3 Mars sampling mission. As part of the mission, the partners will not be ordinary observers, but full-fledged researchers of the Red Planet on a par with China. For this purpose, those who wish will be provided with a place on the ships to place scientific instruments.
Earlier it became known that China has accelerated the program for sampling Mars. The start of the Tianwen-3 mission was moved from 2030 to 2028. NASA has already come to terms with the fact that China may be the first to carry out such a complex operation. The US space agency, for its part, will do everything possible to deliver samples from Mars to Earth no later than 2040.
On April 24, 2025, at a ceremony marking China's Space Day in Shanghai, a CNSA official announced that international partners in the Tianwen-3 mission will receive permission to place 20 kg of payload on board the Mars descent modules. There will be two of them: one in a low circular orbit, the other in a high elliptical orbit. On board the first, 15 kg of payload for foreign instruments are allocated, on board the second - 5 kg.
The Tianwen-3 mission will be launched using two Long March-5 rockets. It is planned to deliver two orbiters and a landing module with a lifting module to Mars. In total, the mission will be equipped with six scientific instruments. The orbiter is designed to operate for five years in a circular orbit at an altitude of 350 km. It also includes a return module with a sample capsule. After the ascent module is launched from the Martian surface, it will dock with the orbiter and transfer the samples to the capsule.
The second orbiter, the service module, will operate in an elliptical orbit for about five years. In addition to carrying scientific experiments, this module will provide communication between the lander, the orbiter and Earth.
If successful, it will be the most technologically advanced program since the American Apollo program. However, NASA urges not to compare the Long March 5 with its own Mars Sample Return (MSR) program. The Chinese lander will only be able to collect samples at its landing site, even if it uses a helicopter and a small rover, while NASA's Mars rover collects samples in the vast expanse of Jezero Crater and beyond. These are two different missions, not a competition, the agency insists.