China successfully launched its first “asteroid probe and sampling” mission, called Tianwen-2, on Thursday, May 29, on the Long March-3B carrier rocket—the 100th launch of this rocket. The probe went into near-Earth orbit, where it will “collect samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and explore the main-belt comet 311P,” the Xinhua News Agency reported on May 27.
The mission’s initial goal is to fly by, land, and collect the country’s first samples from an asteroid. The space rock, called Kamoʻoalewa or asteroid 2016HO3, may be a chunk chipped off the Moon, which has become a “quasi-satellite” near our planet. The spacecraft will spend one year flying to the asteroid and another year orbiting and assessing potential landing sites. It will be the smallest asteroid ever visited, between 150 and 190 feet in diameter.
After dropping off those samples at Earth, via a capsule, about two and a half years from now, the mission will then take seven years to reach an unusual object called Main Belt Comet 311P/Pan-STARRS, and conduct a flyby. Sometimes referred to as an active asteroid, the celestial object orbits between Mars and Jupiter, and produces dusty, comet-like tails. The probe packs three cameras, two spectrometers, radar, a magnetometer, a charged particle and neutral particle analyzer, an ejecta analyzer, and a pair of navigational sensors. China’s space agency thinks those payloads will mean Tianwen 2 can gather data that advances our understanding of small bodies in space, and therefore the development of the Solar System.
Kamo’oalewa has become of interest for astronomers, as it reflects light similar to the Moon. Being able to analyze a sample from it would give researchers an opportunity to make that determination. If it is not part of the Moon, but reflects light similarly, this raises other interesting questions.
The mission will also test China’s capabilities for the launch of the Tianwen-3, which is designed to bring back samples from the surface of Mars, and which will be the first return mission from that planet.May 30, 2025 (EIRNS)—China successfully launched its first “asteroid probe and sampling” mission, called Tianwen-2, on Thursday, May 29, on the Long March-3B carrier rocket—the 100th launch of this rocket. The probe went into near-Earth orbit, where it will “collect samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and explore the main-belt comet 311P,” the Xinhua News Agency reported on May 27.
The mission’s initial goal is to fly by, land, and collect the country’s first samples from an asteroid. The space rock, called Kamoʻoalewa or asteroid 2016HO3, may be a chunk chipped off the Moon, which has become a “quasi-satellite” near our planet. The spacecraft will spend one year flying to the asteroid and another year orbiting and assessing potential landing sites. It will be the smallest asteroid ever visited, between 150 and 190 feet in diameter.
After dropping off those samples at Earth, via a capsule, about two and a half years from now, the mission will then take seven years to reach an unusual object called Main Belt Comet 311P/Pan-STARRS, and conduct a flyby. Sometimes referred to as an active asteroid, the celestial object orbits between Mars and Jupiter, and produces dusty, comet-like tails. The probe packs three cameras, two spectrometers, radar, a magnetometer, a charged particle and neutral particle analyzer, an ejecta analyzer, and a pair of navigational sensors. China’s space agency thinks those payloads will mean Tianwen 2 can gather data that advances our understanding of small bodies in space, and therefore the development of the Solar System.
Kamo’oalewa has become of interest for astronomers, as it reflects light similar to the Moon. Being able to analyze a sample from it would give researchers an opportunity to make that determination. If it is not part of the Moon, but reflects light similarly, this raises other interesting questions.
The mission will also test China’s capabilities for the launch of the Tianwen-3, which is designed to bring back samples from the surface of Mars, and which will be the first return mission from that planet.
