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NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is dead

456 points · 391 comments · Muhammad523

peri-cl · 1790019864 · focus · HN ↗
This article only obliquely mentions in the last paragraphs, but there's a parallel Chinese program that recently brought back samples from the moon, and will attempt Mars sample return, launching in 2028,
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianwen-3" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianwen-3
1. notabee · 1790020232 · focus · HN ↗
  Anyone wanting to be involved in the future of scientific research should probably start learning Mandarin. We're going the way of the Soviets, where political officers will quash any science that doesn't fit their ideology. <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/trump-planning-to-hand-veto-power-over-nih-grants-to-political-appointee/" rel="nofollow">https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/trump-planning-to-ha...
  1. gamblor956 · 1790022176 · focus · HN ↗
    where political officers will quash any science that doesn't fit their ideology
    China also does this. We just don't hear about it because they also quash the reporting.
    throwaway27448 · 1790026429 · focus · HN ↗
    Is there any reason to think that their "ideology" is contradictory to scientific findings or is this just the traditional instinct to see all foreigners as mustache-twirling villains?
    jasonwatkinspdx · 1790032648 · focus · HN ↗
    I'd suggest looking into the story of Naomi Wu, who many here would know for her videos on the Chinese maker and electronics scene.
    They absolutely enforce ideological positions in opposition to science, and very aggressively so.
    There is no waffle room on this.
    lazide · 1790036104 · focus · HN ↗
    Don’t fuck with the money/power. Always been that way, always will - ideology be damned.

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