With US funding cut in January, China could be first to return Martian samples, by 2031

China's state-run campaign to land humans on the Moon by 2030 and maintain a crewed orbital station, in direct competition with the US-led Artemis coalition.

The fourth planet from the Sun and primary destination for robotic exploration, Mars anchors an intensifying US-China race to return the first samples to Earth.

Bian Zhigang, deputy head of SASTIND and deputy director of CNSA, is being investigated for "serious violations of discipline and law"

After a June rendezvous with Kamo'oalewa, the probe lines up an anchor-and-attach sampling no one has tried before

Shenzhou 23 takes over with China's first yearlong stay; a Pakistani astronaut due on Shenzhou 24

Water-ice hunt at Shackleton with a shadow-diving hopper; Long March 10, Mengzhou and Lanyue in testing