China is compiling a new-generation, full-Mars geological map, Hou Zengqian,
academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist for the
Tianwen-3 mission, said in an interview at the 2026 Deep Space Exploration
(Tiandu) International Conference on the 3rd. He said Tianwen-3, a key step in
China’s planetary exploration program, aims primarily to search for potential
traces of life, could become the first successful Mars sample-return mission in
history, and should have its final landing site confirmed by end-2026.
