HELSINKI — China is charting a long-term deep space strategy centered on planetary habitability and the search for extraterrestrial life, according to a newly revealed mission roadmap.
A slide titled “habitability and search for extraterrestrial life — guiding the future development of China’s planetary exploration,” was shared on Chinese social media by the country’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL), a national-level research institution under the China National Space Administration (CNSA). It outlines a number of planned and potential missions, many with astrobiological implications.
The first mission is the Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission, already approved and currently scheduled to launch around late 2028. Among its main objectives is investigating potential traces of past or present life on Mars.
Tianwen-4 is scheduled to launch around 2029 and head to Jupiter and eventually enter orbit around the Galilean moon Callisto. Next, a “ground simulation device for planetary habitable environments will be built around 2030,” according to DSEL.
In 2033, a mission to collect particles from the atmosphere of Venus and deliver them to Earth is scheduled to launch to study the planet’s atmospheric microenvironment. The mission was noted in a first long-term space science roadmap published in October 2024.
Around 2038, China plans to establish a Mars research station focused on in-situ resource utilization and conduct long-term Martian environmental and biological research. There is no indication that the facility will host crew. China is also planning its International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) which will initially be robotic and be constructed using a number of launches.
Potentially launching around 2039 is a nuclear-powered mission to Neptune to study its ring, atmosphere, and the moon Triton. The orbiter mission would aim to explore the habitability of the Neptunian system and search for potential ocean worlds.
Proposals for Chinese missions to the ice giant planets have previously been published, but there is no indication a mission has been officially approved.
DSEL posted the slide to Weibo on March 26, but did not disclose the time or location of the presentation.
https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1904778023896760724
The missions demonstrate both ambition and an astrobiological focus. While a number are approved, others likely face technological and economic hurdles, for example, a Neptune mission would require China to make breakthroughs in nuclear power for deep space. It has often relied on support from Russia for technologies such as radioisotope heater units for its Chang’e lander and rover missions.
Other hurdles include the challenges of ultra-long deep space communication, planetary protection protocols, and developing spacecraft for extended mission lifetimes.
The slide does not provide many details of the noted missions. The Tianwen-4 Jupiter mission does not, for example, include a previously indicated second probe which would use Jupiter to slingshot it towards Uranus. Conversely, a CNSA presentation to the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna in February, included the second probe which would make a flyby of Uranus.
In parallel, China is developing the “Earth 2.0” exoplanet observatory, scheduled to launch in 2028. That mission has the aim of making a breakthrough detection of a potential second Earth.
