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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.
    throwaway27448 · 1790194503 · focus · HN ↗
    > Naomi Wu, also known as Sexy Cyborg, is a Chinese DIY maker and internet personality
    > she had reported security flaws in Tencent’s Sogou keyboard drivers to Western and transnational media.
    ok, you got me, if by "science" you mean something completely different than academic research.
    I can understand why westerners are uncomfortable with this. I can't find it in myself to care.
    jasonwatkinspdx · 1790202589 · focus · HN ↗
    She was forced to stop posting her content after a Vice article outed her as bisexual, so the authorities used their blanket decency law to drag her in for an interrogation and guidance session, effectively ending her channel.
    The suppression I'm talking about is the CCP rejecting that gay people exist in fact, and censoring anyone that dares to be too visibly gay.

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