Latest news with #Xichang
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
China launches mission to retrieve asteroid samples
The decade-long mission is the latest in China's recent efforts to become a major space power. (EPA Images pic) BEIJING : China embarked today on its first mission to retrieve samples from a nearby asteroid, with the nighttime launch of its Tianwen-2 spacecraft, set to make the fast-growing space power the third nation to fetch pristine asteroid rocks. The decade-long mission is the latest in recent space efforts that include landing robots on the moon's far side, running a national space station in orbit and investing heavily in plans to send humans to the moon by 2030. The Long March 3B rocket lifted off at about 1.31am from the Xichang satellite launch centre carrying the Tianwen-2 robotic probe. Over the next year it will approach the small near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo'oalewa, which is between 15 million km and 39 million km distant. China's official news agency Xinhua confirmed the launch of Tianwen-2, calling it a 'complete success'. Tianwen-2 is set to reach the asteroid in July 2026 and shoot a capsule packed with rocks back to Earth for a landing in November 2027. Then it will fly to its second target, main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS, on a journey lasting years, as the comet's closest distance to Earth is about 87 million miles. Located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Comet 311P is far closer to the sun than the region where typical comets originate. The odd location makes it unlikely to have the surface ice of typical comets that, once vaporised, forms their characteristic tails. Tianwen-2 will make in-depth studies of the main features of Kamoʻoalewa and 311P, including possibly the material ejected by the latter, an official of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said. Returning samples from Kamo'oalewa will be far more challenging than China's successful lunar missions, mainly because the asteroid's gravity is much lower than that of the moon, making landing and sampling much harder. Japan's Hayabusa, which fetched samples from a small asteroid in 2010, was the world's first such mission, followed by its Ryugu mission of 2019. In 2020, the first US asteroid retrieval mission, Osiris-REx, brought back samples from the Bennu asteroid. Kamo'oalewa is known as a quasi-satellite of Earth, a close celestial neighbour that has orbited the sun for roughly a century, Nasa says. Its size is anywhere between 40m and 100m. Tianwen-2's predecessor, Tianwen-1, another uncrewed spacecraft launched in 2020, was China's first mission to Mars, successfully landing on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia after a six-month journey. China is already planning its third interplanetary mission, Tianwen-3, scheduled tentatively for 2028, which could make it the first country to retrieve samples from Mars. Last month CNSA announced payload capacity of 20kg for foreign countries and research institutions aboard the orbiter and lander that will explore the red planet.
News24
2 days ago
- Politics
- News24
China launches challenging mission to retrieve asteroid samples
China launched a mission to retrieve asteroid samples. The Tianwen-2 robotic probe will visit asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and comet 311P/PanSTARRS. Kamoʻoalewa is between 40m and 100m in size. China embarked on Thursday on its first mission to retrieve samples from a nearby asteroid, with the nighttime launch of its Tianwen-2 spacecraft, set to make the fast-growing space power the third nation to fetch pristine asteroid rocks. The decade-long mission is the latest in recent space efforts that include landing robots on the moon's far side, running a national space station in orbit and investing heavily in plans to send humans to the moon by 2030. The Long March 3B rocket lifted off at about 01:31 from the Xichang satellite launch centre carrying the Tianwen-2 robotic probe. Over the next year it will approach the small near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, which is between 15 million kilometres and 39 million kilometres distant. China's official news agency Xinhua confirmed the launch of Tianwen-2, calling it a 'complete success'. Tianwen-2 is set to reach the asteroid in July 2026 and shoot a capsule packed with rocks back to Earth for a landing in November 2027. Then it will fly to its second target, main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS, on a journey lasting years, as the comet's closest distance to Earth is about 140 million kilometres. Located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Comet 311P is far closer to the Sun than the region where typical comets originate. The odd location makes it unlikely to have the surface ice of typical comets that, once vaporised, forms their characteristic tails. Tianwen-2 will make in-depth studies of the main features of Kamoʻoalewa and 311P, including possibly the material ejected by the latter, an official of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said. Returning samples from Kamo'oalewa will be far more challenging than China's successful lunar missions, mainly because the asteroid's gravity is much lower than that of the moon, making landing and sampling much harder. Japan's Hayabusa, which fetched samples from a small asteroid in 2010, was the world's first such mission, followed by its Ryugu mission of 2019. In 2020, the first US asteroid retrieval mission, OSIRIS-REx, brought back samples from the Bennu asteroid. Kamoʻoalewa is known as a quasi-satellite of Earth, a close celestial neighbour that has orbited the sun for roughly a century, NASA says. Its size is anywhere between 40m and 100m. Tianwen-2's predecessor, Tianwen-1, another uncrewed spacecraft launched in 2020, was China's first mission to Mars, successfully landing on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia after a six-month journey. China is already planning its third interplanetary mission, Tianwen-3, scheduled tentatively for 2028, which could make it the first country to retrieve samples from Mars. In April, CNSA announced payload capacity of 20kg for foreign countries and research institutions aboard the orbiter and lander that will explore the red planet.
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
China Launches Mission to Retrieve Asteroid Samples
China embarked on Thursday on its first mission to retrieve samples from a nearby asteroid, with the nighttime launch of its Tianwen-2 spacecraft, set to make the fast-growing space power the third nation to fetch pristine asteroid rocks. The decade-long mission is the latest in recent space efforts that include landing robots on the moon's far side, running a national space station in orbit and investing heavily in plans to send humans to the moon by 2030. The Long March 3B rocket lifted off at about 1:31 a.m. from the Xichang satellite launch center carrying the Tianwen-2 robotic probe, Reuters reported. Over the next year it will approach the small near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, which is between 9 million miles and 24 million miles (15 million km and 39 million km) distant. China's official news agency Xinhua confirmed the launch of Tianwen-2, calling it a "complete success". Tianwen-2 is set to reach the asteroid in July 2026 and shoot a capsule packed with rocks back to Earth for a landing in November 2027. Then it will fly to its second target, main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS, on a journey lasting years, as the comet's closest distance to Earth is about 87 million miles. Located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Comet 311P is far closer to the Sun than the region where typical comets originate. The odd location makes it unlikely to have the surface ice of typical comets that, once vaporized, forms their characteristic tails. Tianwen-2 will make in-depth studies of the main features of Kamoʻoalewa and 311P, including possibly the material ejected by the latter, an official of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said. Returning samples from Kamo'oalewa will be far more challenging than China's successful lunar missions, mainly because the asteroid's gravity is much lower than that of the moon, making landing and sampling much harder. Japan's Hayabusa, which fetched samples from a small asteroid in 2010, was the world's first such mission, followed by its Ryugu mission of 2019. In 2020, the first US asteroid retrieval mission, OSIRIS-REx, brought back samples from the Bennu asteroid. Kamoʻoalewa is known as a quasi-satellite of Earth, a close celestial neighbor that has orbited the sun for roughly a century, NASA says. Its size is anywhere between 120 feet and 300 feet (40 m and 100 m). Tianwen-2's predecessor, Tianwen-1, another uncrewed spacecraft launched in 2020, was China's first mission to Mars, successfully landing on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia after a six-month journey. China is already planning its third interplanetary mission, Tianwen-3, scheduled tentatively for 2028, which could make it the first country to retrieve samples from Mars. Last month CNSA announced payload capacity of 20 kg (44 lb) for foreign countries and research institutions aboard the orbiter and lander that will explore the red planet.
CNA
2 days ago
- Science
- CNA
China launches mission to retrieve asteroid samples
BEIJING: China embarked on Thursday (May 29) on its first mission to retrieve samples from a nearby asteroid, with the nighttime launch of its Tianwen-2 spacecraft, set to make the fast-growing space power the third nation to fetch pristine asteroid rocks. The decade-long mission is the latest in recent space efforts that include landing robots on the moon's far side, running a national space station in orbit and investing heavily in plans to send humans to the moon by 2030. The Long March 3B rocket lifted off at about 1.31am from the Xichang satellite launch centre carrying the Tianwen-2 robotic probe. Over the next year it will approach the small near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, which is between 15 million km and 39 million km distant. China's official news agency Xinhua confirmed the launch of Tianwen-2, calling it a "complete success". Tianwen-2 is set to reach the asteroid in July 2026 and shoot a capsule packed with rocks back to Earth for a landing in November 2027. Then it will fly to its second target, main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS, on a journey lasting years, as the comet's closest distance to Earth is about 140 million km. Located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Comet 311P is far closer to the Sun than the region where typical comets originate. The odd location makes it unlikely to have the surface ice of typical comets that, once vaporised, forms their characteristic tails. Tianwen-2 will make in-depth studies of the main features of Kamoʻoalewa and 311P, including possibly the material ejected by the latter, an official of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said. Returning samples from Kamo'oalewa will be far more challenging than China's successful lunar missions, mainly because the asteroid's gravity is much lower than that of the moon, making landing and sampling much harder. Japan's Hayabusa, which fetched samples from a small asteroid in 2010, was the world's first such mission, followed by its Ryugu mission of 2019. In 2020, the first US asteroid retrieval mission, OSIRIS-REx, brought back samples from the Bennu asteroid. Kamoʻoalewa is known as a quasi-satellite of Earth, a close celestial neighbour that has orbited the sun for roughly a century, NASA says. Its size is anywhere between 40m and 100m. Tianwen-2's predecessor, Tianwen-1, another uncrewed spacecraft launched in 2020, was China's first mission to Mars, successfully landing on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia after a six-month journey. China is already planning its third interplanetary mission, Tianwen-3, scheduled tentatively for 2028, which could make it the first country to retrieve samples from Mars. Last month CNSA announced payload capacity of 20kg for foreign countries and research institutions aboard the orbiter and lander that will explore the red planet.
NHK
2 days ago
- General
- NHK
China launches probe to collect asteroid samples
China has launched a mission aiming to retrieve samples from an asteroid orbiting the Sun. China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that a rocket carrying the Tianwen-2 robotic probe lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan at 1:31 a.m. local time on Thursday. Tianwen-2 aims to collect rocks and other samples from the Kamo'oalewa asteroid and deliver them back to Earth in a capsule by late 2027. The report said the immense distance makes the mission difficult. The distance between the asteroid and Earth at their closest is about 40 times that between Earth and the Moon. Japan's Hayabusa mission was the first to successfully retrieve samples from an asteroid. Since then Hayabusa2 and US space agency NASA's OSIRIS-REx have also succeeded in retrieving asteroid samples.
