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Robotic explorations have confirmed that Mars once had liquid water and organic compounds, which suggests it was once habitable. However, definitive answers require analysis of pristine samples with advanced techniques in laboratories on Earth, which makes Mars Sample Return (MSR) missions a scientific imperative. NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover has begun caching samples, and China\u2019s Tianwen-3 mission plans a 2031 return. Yet NASA\u2019s MSR program faces cancellation, jeopardizing global efforts. Collaboration among NASA, the European Space Agency, and China\u2019s space agency may be the key to retrieving uncontaminated samples before human missions compromise them. A joint mission among these agencies could target the subsurface of an endorheic basin, where minerals such as magnetite may indicate recent vertical fluid cycles from the deep basin. Despite the low surface temperatures, hypersaline brines may transport subsurface microbes toward the martian regolith surface and carry fluids that could deposit authigenic minerals, enhancing preservation of mineral and organic biosignatures. International cooperation would maximize the likelihood of a successful mission, preserve the scientific integrity of samples returned to Earth, and offer humanity a unique opportunity to determine collaboratively whether life exists beyond Earth, fostering unity and shared progress in space exploration.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/15311074261499442","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T04:38:40Z","timestamp":1791866320000},"page":"1016-1019","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Proposal to Make Mars Sample Return a Collaborative NASA, ESA, and CNSA Effort"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2242-0941","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yi-Liang","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China."},{"name":"Hong Kong Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actaastro.2024.11.001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/d41586-026-00060-7"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.asr.2023.01.044"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1089\/ast.2021.0043"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1089\/ast.2021.0196"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.astro.43.051804.102202"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aas9185"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1089\/ast.2017.1703"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1029\/2025JE009242"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11214-012-9916-y"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41550-025-02572-0"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aah6849"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-020-20514-4"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.194.4260.99"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_1","first-page":"1135","article-title":"The eagle and the hare: U.S.-Chinese relations, the \u2018Wolf Amendment\u2019, and the future of international cooperation in space","volume":"103","author":"Kohler H","year":"2015","unstructured":"Kohler H. 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