China launches spacecraft it says will return samples and yield ‘groundbreaking discoveries'
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China launched a spacecraft that promises to return samples from an asteroid near Mars and yield 'groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity's knowledge of the cosmos,' the country's space agency said.
The Tianwen-2 probe launched early Thursday from southern China aboard the workhorse Long March 3-B rocket. The probe will collect samples from the asteroid 2016HO3 and explore the main-belt comet 311P, which lies even further from the Earth than Mars, according to the China National Space Administration.
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