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China has announced a sample return mission of its own to launch in 2028 or 2030.

This is the third round of layoffs at JPL this year, a reduction spurred primarily by major budgetary cuts to the Mars Sample Return mission, which is managed by JPL.

Last year was a crisis point for Mars Sample Return, whose goal is to fetch rocks from the Red Planet’s Jezero crater and bring them back to Earth for study.

A sobering independent review two months later determined there was “near zero probability” of Mars Sample Return making its proposed 2028 launch date, and “no credible” way to fulfill the mission within its current budget.

There’s nowhere else, for instance, one can sample a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” game and take part in the live-action role-playing game “The Apple Avenue Detective Agency.”