Proposed Chinese space probes

type of spaceflight for samples return

Tianwen-2 () is a Chinese asteroid sample return and comet exploration mission that launched on 28 May 2025. The China National Space Agency (CNSA) plans for the probe to return samples from 469219 Kamoʻoalewa—a near-Earth asteroid that is currently a quasi-satellite of Earth—in 2027. After the mothership drops off the sample return vessel to Earth, it is planned to rendezvous with the main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS and explore it with its 11 onboard instruments.

planned Chinese lunar exploration mission

Tianwen-4 (), formerly known as Gan De (), is a planned Chinese interplanetary mission to study the Jovian system, possibly sharing a launch with a spacecraft which will make a flyby of Uranus.

planned Chinese lunar exploration mission

Tianwen-3 () is a planned Mars sample-return mission by China which would send two spacecraft (an orbiter/Earth-returner and a lander/ascent-vehicle) via two separate launches to Mars. Together, the two spacecraft will seek to obtain samples of Martian rocks and soil and then return the cached samples to Earth. The mission is scheduled to launch in 2028. The primary goal of the mission is to search for signatures of life on Mars.

Shensuo (), formerly Interstellar Express, is a proposed Chinese National Space Administration program designed to explore the heliosphere and interstellar space. The program will feature two or three space probes that were initially planned to be launched in 2024 and follow differing trajectories to encounter Jupiter to assist them out of the Solar System. The first probe, IHP-1, would have traveled toward the nose of the heliosphere, possibly performing a flyby of 50000 Quaoar on the way, while the second probe, IHP-2, will fly near to the tail, skimming by Neptune and Triton in January 2038