China has launched its Tianwen-2 mission, dispatching a spacecraft to gather samples from an asteroid near to Mars. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) anticipates that this mission will "yield groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity’s knowledge of the cosmos."
Launched on Thursday from southern China via the Long March 3-B rocket, the Tianwen-2 probe is set to collect samples from the asteroid 2016HO3. Additionally, it will explore the main-belt comet 311P, situated beyond Mars.
Shan Zhongde, the head of the CNSA, hailed the Tianwen-2 mission as a "significant step in China’s new journey of interplanetary exploration." This ambitious decade-long mission is poised to offer valuable insights into the universe.
The samples from asteroid 2016HO3 are expected to be returned in approximately two years. These asteroids, selected for their stable orbits, may offer clues about Earth's formation, including the origins of water.
China earlier returned rock samples from the moon's far side back to Earth in a historic mission and has welcomed international cooperation. However, any cooperation with the U.S. hinges on removing an American law banning direct bilateral cooperation with NASA.
The near side of the moon is seen from Earth and the far side faces outer space. The far side also is known to have mountains and impact craters and is much more difficult to reach.
China also operates the three person-crewed Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace,” space station, making the country a major player in a new era of space exploration and the use of permanent stations to conduct experiments in space, especially since the station was entirely Chinese-built after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns.
China’s space program is controlled by the People’s Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party.
The country’s space program has grown rapidly in the more than 20 years since it first put a man in space, only the third country to do so under its own speed. The space agency has landed an unmanned explorer on Mars and a rover on the far side of the moon. It aims to put a person on the moon before 2030.
A future Tianwen-4 Jupiter mission will explore Jupiter, although details haven't been released.
