China’s Tianwen-2 mission will mark the nation’s first try and survey and pattern an asteroid and put it in league with the US, Russia and Japan.
Tianwen-2 will examine a close-by asteroid referred to as Kamo’oalewa, which orbits the solar at a distance comparatively near Earth.
The whole mission may final a decade. If it efficiently retrieves and returns samples from the asteroid, it is going to proceed to discover the photo voltaic system, with a second journey to the primary asteroid belt.
When will Tianwen-2 launch?
Tianwen-2 will launch on the finish of Could 2025 on a Lengthy March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite tv for pc Launch Centre in Sichuan province, in keeping with an announcement revealed by the China Nationwide House Administration (CNSA). CNSA has but to substantiate a precise launch date.
The place is Tianwen-2 going?
The primary goal for Tianwen-2 would be the asteroid Kamo’oalewa. If profitable, it is going to mark the primary time China has collected samples from an “interplanetary” physique within the photo voltaic system. China has, nonetheless, beforehand returned samples from the moon.
Interplanetary our bodies — actually pure area objects between planets, together with asteroids, comets and meteors — are widespread close to Earth and have been explored for years by different area companies, equivalent to NASA, Roscosmos, and JAXA.
After Kamo’oalewa, Tianwen-2’s subsequent vacation spot is the comet 311P/PANSTARRS. Comet 311P/PANSTARRS within the photo voltaic system’s foremost “asteroid belt” between Mars and Jupiter. The probe received’t collect samples from the comet, however will as an alternative orbit and analyze its composition.
What’s Kamo’oalewa?
Kamo’oalewa is an uncommon asteroid, estimated to be between 40-100 meters (131–328 ft) in diameter.
It’s described as a “quasi-satellite” as a result of, whereas it orbits the sun , its present location close to Earth means it additionally loops round our planet within the course of.
Astronomers suppose Kamo’oalewa could also be a boulder that was blasted off the floor of our moon, following an affect with one other area object.
It is going to take about two-and-a-half years for Tianwen-2 to finish its preliminary mission to Kamo’oalewa.
How will it retrieve samples?
Tianwen-2 will try and pattern Kamo’oalewa with a “touch-and-go” approach that was efficiently utilized by the OSIRIS-Rex and Hayabusa2 missions. This technique makes use of an prolonged robotic arm to scrape an asteroid’s surface because the probe flies previous.
It is going to additionally try and land on the floor utilizing a second “anchor and connect” approach. This might see 4 robotic arms lengthen and drill into the floor to retrieve materials.
As with different area pattern missions, the samples would then be dropped again to Earth earlier than the probe continues in the direction of its secondary mission within the asteroid belt.
What does Tianwen imply?
Tianwen is the identify of a piece by Chinese language poet Qu Yuan, who died round 278 BCE. It interprets as “Heavenly questions.”
This sequence of missions started with the launch of Tianwen-1 in July 2020, which despatched an explorer to Mars. After landing on the surface in Could 2021, the rover was put into hibernation mode however didn’t restart as deliberate on the finish of 2022.
Tianwen-3 is the following scheduled mission, because of start in 2028. That will probably be China’s first try and return samples from the floor of Mars.
Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany
