China has launched the Tianwen-2 mission, a pioneering space endeavor to retrieve samples from a near-Earth asteroid that may be a fragment of the moon, as well as to study a comet-like asteroid during an extended journey. The spacecraft lifted off atop a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China, marking a significant step forward in planetary exploration.
The primary target is the asteroid Kamoʻoalewa (also known as 2016 HO3), a small, rocky body that orbits close to Earth and is suspected by some scientists to be a piece of the moon ejected into space by a major impact. After rendezvousing with Kamoʻoalewa expected to take about a year Tianwen-2 will orbit the asteroid and attempt to collect surface samples using advanced techniques, including a “touch and go” approach and potentially a novel “anchor and attach” method to retrieve material from deeper layers.
The mission is designed to return the samples to Earth in a capsule by late 2027. If successful, China will join the United States and Japan as the third nation to bring back pristine asteroid material, providing valuable insights into the origins of the solar system and the moon.
Following its sample return, Tianwen-2 will embark on a secondary mission to study 311P/PANSTARRS, an unusual main-belt object between Mars and Jupiter that behaves like both an asteroid and a comet, producing dusty tails as it orbits the sun. This extended phase aims to uncover new information about the building blocks of the inner solar system and the origins of water on Earth.
Tianwen-2 represents a technological stepping stone for China’s ambitious space program, which includes plans for future missions to Mars and the Jupiter system. The successful launch and execution of this mission could significantly advance global understanding of asteroids, comets, and the history of our solar system.