Chinese state media says the mission aims \u2018to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids\u2019 and the Earth.<\/p>\n
China has successfully launched a spacecraft as part of its first-ever mission to retrieve pristine asteroid samples, in what researchers have described as a \u201csignificant step\u201d in Beijing\u2019s ambitions for interplanetary exploration.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Long March 3B rocket lifted off at about 1.31am local time (18:30 GMT) on Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China\u2019s Sichuan province. It was carrying the Tianwen-2 spacecraft, a robotic probe that could make China the third nation to fetch pristine asteroid rocks.<\/p>\n
Announcing the launch, Chinese state-run news outlets said the \u201cspacecraft unfolded its solar panels smoothly\u201d, and that the China National Space Administration (CNSA) had \u201cdeclared the launch a success\u201d.<\/p>\n
Over the next year, Tianwen-2 will approach a small near-Earth asteroid some 10 million miles (16 million km) away, named \u201c469219 Kamo\u02bboalewa\u201d, also known as 2016HO3.<\/p>\n
The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the asteroid, which researchers believe is potentially a fragment of the Moon, in July 2026. It will then shoot the capsule with rock samples back to Earth for a landing in November 2027.<\/p>\n
If successful, China would become only the third country to carry out such a mission after Japan first fetched samples from a small asteroid in 2010, followed by the United States in 2020.<\/p>\n
The People\u2019s Daily state-run newspaper described the mission\u2019s purpose as an \u201cendeavour to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the early solar system\u201d.<\/p>\n
The newspaper quoted Shan Zhongde, the head of the CNSA, as saying that the mission represented a \u201csignificant step in China\u2019s new journey of interplanetary exploration\u201d. He added that the mission was expected to yield \u201cgroundbreaking discoveries and expanding humanity\u2019s knowledge of the cosmos\u201d.<\/p>\n
The mission has multiple goals over the \u201cdecade-long expedition\u201d, according to Chinese state media, including \u201ccollecting samples from near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3\u201d and \u201cexploring the main-belt comet 311P\u201d.<\/p>\n
It will also aim to measure the \u201cphysical parameters of the two celestial targets\u201d, including their \u201corbital dynamics, rotation, size, shape and thermal properties\u201d.<\/p>\n
The samples will be used to determine the \u201cphysical properties, chemical and mineral composition and structural characteristics\u201d of asteroids, according to researchers working on the project.<\/p>\n
As a quasi-satellite of Earth that has orbited the Sun in a synchronised path with the Earth for nearly a century, 2016HO3 has a diameter of between 120 feet (40 metres) and 300 feet (100 metres).<\/p>\n
China has swiftly expanded its space programmes and embarked on several landmark missions in recent years, including landing robots on the far side of the Moon<\/a> and collecting humankind\u2019s first-ever samples from the area in June last year.<\/p>\n China is also running its own Tiangong space station in orbit \u2013 the only operational space station other than the International Space Station (ISS) \u2013 after the US barred it from participating in the ISS.<\/p>\n