China Kicks Off Tianwen-2 Mission for Historic Asteroid Sample Retrieval
(MENAFN) China achieved a major milestone Thursday by successfully launching its inaugural mission aimed at collecting samples from a nearby asteroid, according to reports from state media.
The Tianwen-2 spacecraft was sent into space aboard a Long March-3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center located in Sichuan province, as detailed by a news outlet.
Approximately 18 minutes post-launch, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed that the Tianwen-2 probe deployed its solar panels and settled into its planned orbit.
The Tianwen program, a series of robotic space exploration missions initiated by the CNSA, is designed to deepen understanding of the solar system.
The name Tianwen translates to "heavenly questions" or "questions to heaven."
The CNSA's earlier Tianwen-1 Mars mission, launched in July 2020, "achieved all designated goals, including orbiting, landing and deploying a rover to survey the Martian surface in a single mission," the outlet reported.
The current Tianwen-2 mission targets the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 for sample collection and plans to investigate the main-belt comet 311P, according to CNSA statements.
Liu Jianjun, deputy chief designer of the Tianwen-2 mission, highlighted the vital role of asteroid research, emphasizing that asteroid exploration is extremely important and that scientific study of asteroids carries tremendous value.
He further explained the mission’s scientific significance, noting that examining asteroids, which formed about 4.5 billion years ago in the early solar system, can reveal key information about the origins and evolution of Earth.
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