China to complete new-generation Mars geologic map by end of 2028

Photo released on June 11, 2021 by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) shows a selfie of China's first Mars rover Zhurong with the landing platform. (CNSA/Handout via Xinhua)

BEIJING, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- China plans to complete a new-generation geologic map of Mars by the end of 2028, aiming to reconstruct the red planet's watery past and introduce a Chinese system for dividing Martian geologic time.

Hou Zengqian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of the Tianwen-3 Mars sample-return mission, revealed the plan at a symposium held Monday at the Institute of Geology under the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences.