, Sept. 29 -- generation geologic map of Mars by the end of 2028, with the goal of reconstructing the planet's watery past and developing a Chinese system for dividing Martian geologic time.

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

China's Zhurong rover, which landed on Mars in 2021 as part of the Tianwen-1 mission, has provided new evidence about the planet's history of water. The findings suggest that a vast ancient ocean still existed about 3.5 billion years ago, while short-lived floods may have occurred around 1.6 billi...