America was winning the race to find Martian life. Then China jumped in

To most people, rocks are just rocks. To geologists, they are much, much more: crystal-filled time capsules with the power to reveal the state of the planet at the very moment they were forged.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/02/26/1133584/america-china-mars-sample-return-space-race-nasa/