China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has reached its target, near-Earth asteroid Kamo’olewa, after a journey of nearly 400 days, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Monday.
The mission, slated for launch in May 2025, is a significant milestone for China as it seeks to match or surpass the US and Europe in deep space exploration and is the first Chinese attempt to collect samples from an asteroid.
Scientists believe samples taken from asteroids – rocky bodies orbiting the Sun – may provide clues to how the Solar System came into being and evolved.
What do we know about the Tianwen-2 mission and the asteroid?
CNSA said Tianwen-2 had successfully approached within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the asteroid – also known as 2016 HO3 – which is only a few dozen meters (yards) in diameter.
The asteroid, which was discovered from Hawaii in 2016, travels around the Sun at the same distance as Earth and is a so-called quasi-satellite of our planet, because its orbit is in close sync with it.
“The probe will perform progressively more detailed scientific exploration to obtain data on the asteroid’s morphology, material composition and internal structure, which will lay the groundwork for subsequent sample collection operations,” CNSA said.
Once the samples have been collected, Tianwen-2 will release a module that will return them to Earth, with arrival scheduled for late 2027.
After completing its operations at the asteroid, the lead spacecraft is expected to travel to a comet in the asteroid belt to continue the mission lasting about a decade.
China is promoting its space program
China has spent billions of dollars on its space program over the past few years, with President Xi Jinping talking about his country’s “space dream.”
The current mission comes after Japanese and American missions have already collected samples from various asteroids.
Beijing is now trying to catch up with the US and EU, which have recently been pursuing missions beyond the Moon.
Edited by: Kieran Burke