NASA's Mars Sample Return Mission Slows Down...Are you being overtaken by China?

[Anchor]
The U.S. NASA's mission to bring samples such as rocks from Mars to Earth is struggling due to increased costs.

China also plans to bring samples back to Earth from Mars, but NASA's plan has been delayed, raising the possibility of being overtaken by China'.

This is reporter Lee Sung-kyu.

[Reporter]
NASA's Mars rover Perseverance, which arrived on Mars in 2021.One of the main tasks of the

Rover is to collect samples of Mars, including rocks.

The rover has already collected Mars samples and stored them in 30 tubes.

NASA's Mars Sample Return to Earth was in the early 2030s.

However, the review has pushed it back to 2040 due to astronomical costs.

Against this backdrop, NASA recently proposed two ways to speed up the collection of Mars samples and reduce costs.

How to use the sky crane that landed the FishVerience Rover on Mars and
This is how to use landers from private space companies such as
SpaceX and Blue Origin.

[Bill Nelson / Director of NASA: The first sky crane is a successful method at Curiosity and Perseverance Rover. The second method is to utilize a private commercial partner with a lander.]

[Reporter]
NASA plans to decide on the specific sample collection method by the second half of 2026.

NAS's mission to return samples to Mars has actually slowed, raising the possibility of being overtaken by China.

China plans to launch two rockets to Mars in the upcoming Tianwen 3 mission scheduled for 2028 and bring samples to Mars by 2031.

China will launch a total of two rockets, one rocket carrying a lander and take-off ship and one rocket carrying an orbiter and a return ship to Earth, respectively, in the Tianwen 3 mission.

The Tianwen 3 mission makes finding signs of life on Mars a top priority.

If humans bring samples directly from Mars, it is expected to further expand humanity's horizon on Mars, and attention is also being paid to who will bring them first.

I'm Lee Sung Kyu of YTN Science.