China has launched a spacecraft that promises to return samples from an asteroid near Mars and yield “groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity’s knowledge of the cosmos,” the country’s space agency said.
The Tianwen-2 probe launched early on Thursday from southern China aboard a Long March 3-B rocket.
The probe will collect samples from the asteroid 2016HO3 and explore the main-belt comet 311P, which lies even farther from Earth than Mars, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
China earlier returned rock samples from the moon’s far side back to Earth in a historic mission and has welcomed international cooperation.
The space agency has landed an unmanned explorer on Mars and a rover on the far side of the moon.
According to the nation’s space agency, China has launched a spacecraft that will return samples from an asteroid close to Mars and produce “groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity’s knowledge of the cosmos.”.
Using a Long March 3-B rocket, the Tianwen-2 probe took off early Thursday from southern China.
The probe will investigate the main-belt comet 311P, which is even more distant from Earth than Mars, and gather samples from the asteroid 2016HO3, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.
According to a quote from CNSA chief Shan Zhongde, the Tianwen-2 mission is a “significant step in China’s new journey of interplanetary exploration” and will “yield groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity’s knowledge of the cosmos” over the course of its ten-year mission. “,”.
It will take roughly two years for samples from 2016HO3 to be returned. The asteroids were picked because of their comparatively stable orbits, and it is anticipated that they will provide hints about how Earth formed, including where water came from.
Previously, China has welcomed international cooperation and returned rock samples from the far side of the moon to Earth in a historic mission.
Any collaboration with the US, though, is contingent upon the repeal of an American law that forbids direct bilateral collaboration with NASA.
The moon’s far side faces space, while its near side is visible from Earth. It is also much harder to get to the far side, which is known to have impact craters and mountains.
Since China was excluded from the International Space Station due to US national security concerns, the country has become a major player in a new era of space exploration and the use of permanent stations to conduct experiments in space. China also operates the Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace,” space station, which is manned by three people.
The People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the ruling Communist Party, is in charge of China’s space program.
In the more than two decades since it launched a man into space, just the third nation to do so at its own pace, the nation’s space program has expanded quickly.
The space agency has successfully landed a rover on the moon’s far side and an unmanned explorer on Mars.
Before 2030, it hopes to send a human to the moon.
Jupiter will likely be explored by a future Tianwen-4 Jupiter mission, though specifics have not yet been made public.
