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China's Tianwen-2 Mission Seeks Answers from Mysterious "Quasi-Moon" Asteroid
China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft, launched Thursday, May 29, 2025, on a decade-long deep space mission, will first investigate asteroid 2016 HO3, an enigmatic celestial body that has long been Earth's constant cosmic companion, preserving secrets about the solar system's origins.
Known as a quasi-satellite of Earth, asteroid 2016 HO3 orbits the Sun and appears to circle around Earth as well. Its traces were first captured by the Pan-STARRS survey telescope in Hawaii, the United States in 2016.
A Long March-3B rocket, carrying spacecraft Tianwen-2 ("Questions to Heaven" in Chinese), lifted off at 01:31 Beijing Time Thursday from southwest China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
Tianwen-2 will collect pristine samples from a near-Earth asteroid, 2016HO3, return them to Earth, and explore the main-belt comet 311P, more distant than Mars.
The probe is expected to return asteroid samples to Earth in 2027,with the entire mission to last a decade long.
If successful, China will become only the third country in the world to carry out such a mission after Japan and the United States.
The Tianwen-2 mission is the latest example of China's cosmic achievements in recent years. These include returning samples from both the near and far sides of the Moon, launching a successful mission to probe Mars, running its own national space station in orbit, and moving ahead in its plan to send humans to the lunar surface by 2030.
Liu Jianjun, a researcher at the CAS's National Astronomical Observatories and deputy chief engineer of the Tianwen-2 mission, said at the press briefing that studying asteroids, known as "cosmic fossils," can provide important clues about the solar system's infancy and the Earth's evolution.
"Asteroids are a very special celestial body in our solar system. They maintain a relatively primitive state seen in the early stage of our solar system's formation, so studying them can greatly help us understand the infancy of the solar system. More importantly, studying asteroids provides very important clues for us to understand the Earth and its evolution," said Liu.
Significantly, depending on the 2016HO3's surface conditions, Tianwen-2 will employ three approaches for sample collection—hover sampling, touch-and-go, and attachment sampling. This makes China the first country in the world to design multiple asteroid sampling techniques.
Su Yan, another researcher of the CAS's National Astronomical Observatories and chief engineer of the Tianwen-2 mission's ground application system, added that China's foray into asteroid sample return demonstrates the significant advancement in its deep space exploration technologies.
"Based on the unknown features of asteroids, the probe has been specially designed with three sampling methods. It is also the first time in the world that so many sampling techniques have been designed by a country. Since we have, until now, just started to conduct exploration on this type of targets, it marks a significant improvement in our country's deep space exploration technologies," Su said.
Video Credit: CCTV Duration: 1 minute, 20 seconds Release Date: May 30, 2025
The Milky Way Galaxy: Earth Orbital View | International Space Station
Veteran NASA astronaut and former Expedition#72 flight engineer, Don Pettit: "The Milky Way from the vantage of the ISS, with stars as points, rising sun, and cities as yellow streaks below."
Image details: Taken with Nikon Z9, Sigma 14mm f1.4 lens, 15 seconds, f1.4, ISO 6400, with homemade orbital sidereal drive to compensate for orbital pitch rate (4 degrees/min)
NASA astronaut Don Pettit returned to Earth on April 19, 2025, concluding a seven-month science mission aboard the International Space Station. Pettit spent 220 days in space, earning him a total of 590 days in space over the course of his four spaceflights. He orbited the Earth 3,520 times, traveling 93.3 million miles in low-Earth orbit.
NASA Flight Engineers: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Jonny Kim
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.
China Tianwen-2 Launch: Asteroid Sample-Return & Comet Flyby Mission
Tianwen-2 Asteroid Sample-Return & Comet Flyby Mission Patch
China's Tianwen-2, the nation's first spacecraft commissioned to retrieve samples from an asteroid, launched in the early hours of Thursday, May 29, 2025, aiming to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the early solar system.
The Tianwen-2 Mission aims to achieve multiple goals over a decade-long expedition: collecting samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and exploring the main-belt comet 311P that is more distant than Mars.
A Long March-3B carrier rocket blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 01:31 (Beijing Time). And about 18 minutes later, the Tianwen-2 probe was sent into a transfer orbit from Earth to the asteroid 2016HO3, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The spacecraft unfolded its solar panels smoothly, and the CNSA declared the launch a success.
Shan Zhongde, head of the CNSA, said that the Tianwen-2 mission represents a significant step in China's new journey of interplanetary exploration.
Despite the mission's long duration and significant risks, he said he hoped it would make groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity's knowledge of the cosmos.
Known as a quasi-satellite of Earth, asteroid 2016HO3 orbits the Sun and appears to circle around Earth as well, remaining a constant companion to our planet.
Dubbed as "cosmic fossils," asteroids preserve critical information about the solar system's infancy, scientists say.
The second target, 311P, a celestial anomaly discovered in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, occasionally spews out materials and resembles a comet with tails. Its discovery challenges astronomers' conventional understanding about comets, as the region is too close to the Sun for a comet to retain volatile materials like water ice.
The Tianwen-2 mission is expected to advance understanding of the origins, evolution and characteristics of these two types of small celestial bodies, said Han Siyuan, deputy director of the CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center and spokesperson for the Tianwen-2 mission.
The mission will focus on measuring the physical parameters of the two celestial targets, including their orbital dynamics, rotation, size, shape and thermal properties.
The mission will also investigate the topography, composition and internal structure of the two celestial bodies, and possibly study the materials ejected by the main belt comet, Han said.
After the samples are brought back to Earth, they will be analyzed to determine their physical properties, chemical and mineral composition and structural characteristics, he added.
The mission is a complex one, with the spacecraft journeying for about a year to reach its first target, during which it will perform deep-space maneuvers and mid-course corrections until it is about 30,000 km away from 2016HO3.
The probe will gradually approach the target, carrying out closer exploration by circling and hovering over the asteroid to determine the sampling area, with a strategy of flying and probing simultaneously.
After completing the sampling, the spacecraft will fly back towards Earth when a return capsule is expected to separate from the main probe and deliver the samples back to Earth by the end of 2027.
The main probe will then continue its voyage to rendezvous with the more distant target, the main-belt comet 311P, to carry out further exploration.
The probe is equipped with an array of scientific instruments, including cameras, a visible and infrared imaging spectrometer, a thermal emission spectrometer, radar, a magnetometer, and analyzers for charged and neutral particles, as well as for ejected materials, according to the CNSA.
The mission aims to overcome key technological challenges, including sampling on a low-gravity celestial surface, high-precision autonomous navigation and control, as well as trajectory design, according to the CNSA.
NASA Flight Engineers: Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Jonny Kim
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.
Chinese Rocket Completes Vertical Sea Recovery Test, Boosting Reusable Technology
Space Epoch's YXZ-1 methalox-powered reusable rocket (test article) successfully demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies
Space Epoch's YXZ-1 methalox-powered reusable rocket (test article) successfully demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies
Space Epoch's YXZ-1 methalox-powered reusable rocket (test article) successfully demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies via a soft splashdown in Yellow Sea off the coast of Shandong province
Space Epoch's YXZ-1 reusable rocket (test article) recovery post-landing in the Yellow Sea off the coast from Haiyang spaceport, Shandong province
Space Epoch's YXZ-1 reusable rocket (test article) recovery post-landing in the Yellow Sea off the coast from Haiyang spaceport, Shandong province
Space Epoch's reusable methalox-powered Hiking-1 commercial rocket launching to Earth orbit in 2025
Space Epoch's reusable methalox-powered Hiking-1 commercial rocket launching to Earth orbit in 2025
Chinese rocket startup Sepoch ("Space Epoch"), officially Beijing Jianyuan Technology Co., Ltd., has successfully conducted its first sea recovery test of its stainless steel and reusable YXZ-1 rocket. China’s first reusable rocket using liquid oxygen-methane propulsion completed a 125-second flight, reaching a 2.5-km altitude.
Reported flight cost: 27.6 million USD
Watch it reignite its core engine, hover and land vertically off the coast of Shandong province in eastern China demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies. Sepoch plans an orbital flight test later in 2025 with its Hiker-1 rocket. It is designed to be reusable and carry up to 10,000 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit, according to previous reports.
The Yuanxingzhe-1 (YXZ-1) verification rocket lifted off from an elevated steel structure at the Haiyang spaceport at 4:40pm Eastern (2040 UTC) May 28, 2025. It performed a controlled, propulsive vertical descent and soft splashdown in waters off the coast of Haiyang.
Flight Details:
Diameter: 4.2 meters Height: 26.8m stainless steel body
Reusable metholox engine
57t Liftoff mass
Apogee 2.5km
125 second flight
The test article used thin-walled stainless steel and had a diameter of 4.2 meters, a total height of 26.8 meters and a takeoff mass of about 57 tons, according to Sepoch. The test lasted 125 seconds and reached around 2.5 kilometers in altitude. The test article used Longyun methane-liquid oxygen engines provided by commercial firm Jiuzhou Yunjian (JZYJ).
Sepoch, and also referred to as Space Epoch, declared the test a “complete success” in a statement. It noted eight phases of flight: ignition and liftoff, full-thrust ascent, variable thrust adjustment, engine shutdown, free descent, engine reignition, deceleration and hovering, and soft splashdown.
Hiker-1 is among a number of reusable rockets being developed in China that could debut this year, either in expendable mode, or attempting first stage reusability from the start.
These include Landspace’s stainless steel Zhuque-3, SAST’s Long March 12A, Tianlong-3 from Space Pioneer, Hyperbola-3 from iSpace and Galactic Energy’s Pallas-1.
Last year, Sepoch entered a strategic partnership with satellite operator Shifang Xinglian to build a constellation of medium Earth orbit satellites. It has also partnered with Taobao, Alibaba’s major e-commerce platform, to explore the feasibility of rocket-based express delivery.
This was not the first vertical takeoff and soft landing in China this year. In January, the state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) carried out a higher-altitude test for its planned reusable Long March 12 series rocket, again using engines from JZYJ, attempting to reach an altitude of around 75 km.
SpaceX Starship 9th Flight Test: First Flight-provenSuper Heavy Booster Launch
This event marked the "liftoff of the first flight-proven Super Heavy booster and thrice flown Raptor engines." Starship’s ninth flight test lifted off at 6:36 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, from Starbase, Texas. This test represented a major milestone for reuse with the first flight-proven Super Heavy booster launching from Starbase, and once more returned Starship to space. Data review is underway, and new improvements will be implemented as work begins to prepare the next Starship and Super Heavy vehicles for flight. Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable, but every lesson learned marks progress toward Starship’s goal of enabling life to become multiplanetary.
The Super Heavy booster supporting the mission made the first ever reflight in the Starship program, having previously launched on Starship’s seventh flight test in January 2025. The booster performed a full-duration ascent burn with all 33 of its Raptor engines and separated from Starship’s upper stage in a hot-staging maneuver. During separation, Super Heavy performed the first deterministic flip followed by its boostback burn.
Super Heavy demonstrated its ability to fly at a higher angle of attack during its descent back to Earth. By increasing the amount of atmospheric drag on the vehicle, a higher angle of attack results in a slower descent speed. This in turn requires less propellant for the initial landing burn. Getting real-world data on how the booster controlled its flight at this higher angle of attack will contribute to improved performance on future vehicles, including the next generation of Super Heavy.
As it approached its designated splashdown area in the Gulf of America, Super Heavy relit its 13 center and middle ring Raptor engines. Contact with the booster was lost shortly after the start of landing burn when it experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly approximately 6 minutes after launch, bringing an end to the first reflight of a Super Heavy booster.
Following a successful stage separation, the Starship upper stage lit all six of its Raptor engines and performed a full-duration ascent burn. The engines on Starship flew with mitigations in place following learnings from the eighth flight test, including additional preload on key joints, a new nitrogen purge system, and improvements to the propellant drain system.
During Starship’s orbital coast, several in-space objectives were planned, including the first payload deployment from Starship and a relight of a single Raptor engine.
Starship’s payload bay door was unable to open which prevented the deployment of the eight Starlink simulator satellites. A subsequent attitude control error resulted in bypassing the Raptor relight and prevented Starship from getting into the intended position for reentry. Starship then went through an automated safing process to vent the remaining pressure to place the vehicle in the safest condition for reentry. Contact with Starship was lost approximately 46 minutes into the flight, with all debris expected to fall within the planned hazard area in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively referred to as Starship—represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.
Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 123m/403ft Diameter: 9m/29.5ft Payload to LEO: 100–150t (fully reusable)
"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission through the Human Landing System (HLS) program."
Chinese Rocket Completes Vertical Sea Recovery Test to Boost Reusable Technology
Chinese rocket startup Sepoch, officially Beijing Jianyuan Technology Co., Ltd., has successfully conducted its first sea recovery test of its stainless steel and reusable YXZ-1 rocket. The methane-liquid oxygen rocket completed a 125-second flight, reaching a 2.5-km altitude. Watch it reignite engine, hover and land vertically off the coast of Shandong province in eastern China demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies. Sepoch plans an orbital flight test later in 2025 with its Hiker-1 rocket. It is designed to be reusable and carry up to 10,000 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit, according to previous reports.
The Yuanxingzhe-1 (YXZ-1) verification rocket lifted off from an elevated steel structure at the Haiyang spaceport at 4:40pm Eastern (2040 UTC) May 28, 2025. It performed a controlled, propulsive vertical descent and soft splashdown in waters off the coast of Haiyang.
Flight Details:
Diameter: 4.2 meters Height: 26.8m stainless steel body
Reusable metholox engine
57t Liftoff mass
Apogee 2.5km
125 second flight
The test article used thin-walled stainless steel and had a diameter of 4.2 meters, a total height of 26.8 meters and a takeoff mass of about 57 tons, according to Sepoch. The test lasted 125 seconds and reached around 2.5 kilometers in altitude. The test article used Longyun methane-liquid oxygen engines provided by commercial firm Jiuzhou Yunjian (JZYJ).
Sepoch, and also referred to as Space Epoch, declared the test a “complete success” in a statement. It noted eight phases of flight: ignition and liftoff, full-thrust ascent, variable thrust adjustment, engine shutdown, free descent, engine reignition, deceleration and hovering, and soft splashdown.
Hiker-1 is among a number of reusable rockets being developed in China that could debut this year, either in expendable mode, or attempting first stage reusability from the start.
These include Landspace’s stainless steel Zhuque-3, SAST’s Long March 12A, Tianlong-3 from Space Pioneer, Hyperbola-3 from iSpace and Galactic Energy’s Pallas-1.
Last year, Sepoch entered a strategic partnership with satellite operator Shifang Xinglian to build a constellation of medium Earth orbit satellites. It has also partnered with Taobao, Alibaba’s major e-commerce platform, to explore the feasibility of rocket-based express delivery.
This was not the first vertical takeoff and soft landing in China this year. In January, the state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) carried out a higher-altitude test for its planned reusable Long March 12 series rocket, again using engines from JZYJ, attempting to reach an altitude of around 75 km.
Video Credit: New China TV
Text Credit: Sepoch, SpaceNews Duration: 43 seconds Release Date: May 29, 2025
SpaceX Starship: First Flight-provenSuper Heavy Booster Liftoff (Close-up)
This video shows the "liftoff of the first flight-proven Super Heavy booster and thrice flown Raptor engines." Starship’s ninth flight test lifted off at 6:36 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, from Starbase, Texas. This test marked a major milestone for reuse with the first flight-proven Super Heavy booster launching from Starbase, and once more returned Starship to space. Data review is underway, and new improvements will be implemented as work begins to prepare the next Starship and Super Heavy vehicles for flight. Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable, but every lesson learned marks progress toward Starship’s goal of enabling life to become multiplanetary.
The Super Heavy booster supporting the mission made the first ever reflight in the Starship program, having previously launched on Starship’s seventh flight test in January 2025. The booster performed a full-duration ascent burn with all 33 of its Raptor engines and separated from Starship’s upper stage in a hot-staging maneuver. During separation, Super Heavy performed the first deterministic flip followed by its boostback burn.
Super Heavy demonstrated its ability to fly at a higher angle of attack during its descent back to Earth. By increasing the amount of atmospheric drag on the vehicle, a higher angle of attack results in a slower descent speed. This in turn requires less propellant for the initial landing burn. Getting real-world data on how the booster controlled its flight at this higher angle of attack will contribute to improved performance on future vehicles, including the next generation of Super Heavy.
As it approached its designated splashdown area in the Gulf of America, Super Heavy relit its 13 center and middle ring Raptor engines. Contact with the booster was lost shortly after the start of landing burn when it experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly approximately 6 minutes after launch, bringing an end to the first reflight of a Super Heavy booster.
Following a successful stage separation, the Starship upper stage lit all six of its Raptor engines and performed a full-duration ascent burn. The engines on Starship flew with mitigations in place following learnings from the eighth flight test, including additional preload on key joints, a new nitrogen purge system, and improvements to the propellant drain system.
During Starship’s orbital coast, several in-space objectives were planned, including the first payload deployment from Starship and a relight of a single Raptor engine.
Starship’s payload bay door was unable to open which prevented the deployment of the eight Starlink simulator satellites. A subsequent attitude control error resulted in bypassing the Raptor relight and prevented Starship from getting into the intended position for reentry. Starship then went through an automated safing process to vent the remaining pressure to place the vehicle in the safest condition for reentry. Contact with Starship was lost approximately 46 minutes into the flight, with all debris expected to fall within the planned hazard area in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively referred to as Starship—represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.
Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 123m/403ft Diameter: 9m/29.5ft Payload to LEO: 100–150t (fully reusable)
"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission through the Human Landing System (HLS) program."
SpaceX Starship: First Flight-provenSuper Heavy Booster Liftoff (Slow Motion)
This video shows the "liftoff of the first flight-proven Super Heavy booster and thrice flown Raptor engines." Starship’s ninth flight test lifted off at 6:36 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, from Starbase, Texas. This test marked a major milestone for reuse with the first flight-proven Super Heavy booster launching from Starbase, and once more returned Starship to space. Data review is underway, and new improvements will be implemented as work begins to prepare the next Starship and Super Heavy vehicles for flight. Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable, but every lesson learned marks progress toward Starship’s goal of enabling life to become multiplanetary.
The Super Heavy booster supporting the mission made the first ever reflight in the Starship program, having previously launched on Starship’s seventh flight test in January 2025. The booster performed a full-duration ascent burn with all 33 of its Raptor engines and separated from Starship’s upper stage in a hot-staging maneuver. During separation, Super Heavy performed the first deterministic flip followed by its boostback burn.
Super Heavy demonstrated its ability to fly at a higher angle of attack during its descent back to Earth. By increasing the amount of atmospheric drag on the vehicle, a higher angle of attack results in a slower descent speed. This in turn requires less propellant for the initial landing burn. Getting real-world data on how the booster controlled its flight at this higher angle of attack will contribute to improved performance on future vehicles, including the next generation of Super Heavy.
As it approached its designated splashdown area in the Gulf of America, Super Heavy relit its 13 center and middle ring Raptor engines. Contact with the booster was lost shortly after the start of landing burn when it experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly approximately 6 minutes after launch, bringing an end to the first reflight of a Super Heavy booster.
Following a successful stage separation, the Starship upper stage lit all six of its Raptor engines and performed a full-duration ascent burn. The engines on Starship flew with mitigations in place following learnings from the eighth flight test, including additional preload on key joints, a new nitrogen purge system, and improvements to the propellant drain system.
During Starship’s orbital coast, several in-space objectives were planned, including the first payload deployment from Starship and a relight of a single Raptor engine.
Starship’s payload bay door was unable to open which prevented the deployment of the eight Starlink simulator satellites. A subsequent attitude control error resulted in bypassing the Raptor relight and prevented Starship from getting into the intended position for reentry. Starship then went through an automated safing process to vent the remaining pressure to place the vehicle in the safest condition for reentry. Contact with Starship was lost approximately 46 minutes into the flight, with all debris expected to fall within the planned hazard area in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively referred to as Starship—represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.
Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 123m/403ft Diameter: 9m/29.5ft Payload to LEO: 100–150t (fully reusable)
"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission through the Human Landing System (HLS) program."
Is This How Planet Mars Lost Its Atmosphere? | NASA Goddard
Mars is losing its atmosphere. Over billions of years, the Red Planet has transformed from a potentially habitable world with lakes, rivers, and a thicker atmosphere into the cold, dry desert we see today. NASA’s MAVEN mission has been tracking this process in real time, catching Mars in the act of slowly sputtering its atmosphere into space.
This phenomenon—called “atmospheric sputtering”—happens when high-energy particles from the Sun slam into Mars’s upper atmosphere, knocking atoms and molecules loose. Without a global magnetic field to protect it, Mars is especially vulnerable. MAVEN has shown that this atmospheric escape accelerates during solar storms, offering a powerful view of how the Sun shapes the evolution of planetary atmospheres.
The data from MAVEN helps us understand how atmospheres behave across the solar system and beyond. It is a glimpse into what makes a planet stay habitable—or lose that potential entirely.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Dan Gallagher: Lead Producer Paul Morris: Producer / Editor Dr. Shannon Curry: Scientist / Interviewee Willow Reed: Public Affairs Nancy Jones: Public Affairs Greg Shirah: Data Visualizer Cindy Starr: Data Visualizer Kel Elkins: Data Visualizer Walt Feimer: Animator Michael Lentz: Animator Chris Smith: Animator Jonathan North: Animator Brian Monroe: Animator Lisa Poje: Graphic Designer Adriana Manrique Gutierrez: Graphic Designer Kim Dongjae: Graphic Designer Ernie Wright: Support Aaron E. Lepsch: Technical Support Additional Credits: Periodic Table Focusing On Argon With Properties by S_D_Brath via Pond5 Ashes Of A Camp Fire Next To Chair by BlackBoxGuild via Pond5 Wood Burning In A Camp Fire by Edb3_16 via Pond5 Duration: 3 minutes Release Date: May 29, 2025
China Launches Tianwen-2 to Retrieve Asteroid Samples & Make Comet Flyby
China's Tianwen-2, the nation's first space probe commissioned to retrieve samples from an asteroid, launched in the early hours of Thursday, May 29, 2025, aiming to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the early solar system.
The Tianwen-2 mission aims to achieve multiple goals over a decade-long expedition: collecting samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and exploring the main-belt comet 311P that is more distant than Mars.
A Long March-3B carrier rocket blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 01:31 (Beijing Time). And about 18 minutes later, the Tianwen-2 probe was sent into a transfer orbit from Earth to the asteroid 2016HO3, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The spacecraft unfolded its solar panels smoothly, and the CNSA declared the launch a success.
Shan Zhongde, head of the CNSA, said that the Tianwen-2 mission represents a significant step in China's new journey of interplanetary exploration.
Despite the mission's long duration and significant risks, he said he hoped it would make groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity's knowledge of the cosmos.
Known as a quasi-satellite of Earth, asteroid 2016HO3 orbits the Sun and appears to circle around Earth as well, remaining a constant companion to our planet.
Dubbed as "cosmic fossils," asteroids preserve critical information about the solar system's infancy, scientists say.
The second target, 311P, a celestial anomaly discovered in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, occasionally spews out materials and resembles a comet with tails. Its discovery challenges astronomers' conventional understanding about comets, as the region is too close to the Sun for a comet to retain volatile materials like water ice.
The Tianwen-2 mission is expected to advance understanding of the origins, evolution and characteristics of these two types of small celestial bodies, said Han Siyuan, deputy director of the CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center and spokesperson for the Tianwen-2 mission.
The mission will focus on measuring the physical parameters of the two celestial targets, including their orbital dynamics, rotation, size, shape and thermal properties.
The mission will also investigate the topography, composition and internal structure of the two celestial bodies, and possibly study the materials ejected by the main belt comet, Han said.
After the samples are brought back to Earth, they will be analyzed to determine their physical properties, chemical and mineral composition and structural characteristics, he added.
The mission is a complex one, with the spacecraft journeying for about a year to reach its first target, during which it will perform deep-space maneuvers and mid-course corrections until it is about 30,000 km away from 2016HO3.
The probe will gradually approach the target, carrying out closer exploration by circling and hovering over the asteroid to determine the sampling area, with a strategy of flying and probing simultaneously.
After completing the sampling, the spacecraft will fly back towards Earth when a return capsule is expected to separate from the main probe and deliver the samples back to Earth by the end of 2027.
The main probe will then continue its voyage to rendezvous with the more distant target, the main-belt comet 311P, to carry out further exploration.
The probe is equipped with an array of scientific instruments, including cameras, a visible and infrared imaging spectrometer, a thermal emission spectrometer, radar, a magnetometer, and analyzers for charged and neutral particles, as well as for ejected materials, according to the CNSA.
The mission aims to overcome key technological challenges, including sampling on a low-gravity celestial surface, high-precision autonomous navigation and control, as well as trajectory design, according to the CNSA.
Video Credit: CCTV Duration: 50 seconds Release Date: May 28, 2025
NASA "Espacio A Tierra" | Artículos devueltos: 23 de mayo 2025
Espacio a Tierra, la versión en español de las cápsulas Space to Ground de la NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la Estación Espacial Internacional.
China Launches Tianwen-2 Asteroid-Sample Return & Comet Flyby Mission
China launched its first asteroid sample-return mission, Tianwen-2, in the early hours of Thursday, May 29, 2025 Beijing Time—an endeavour to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the early solar system. This will be the country's first asteroid flyby and sample-return mission.
The Tianwen-2 robotic probe will first collect samples from a small near Earth asteroid called 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, also known as 2016HO3, and return them to Earth in 2027. The asteroid is roughly 40 to 100-meters in diameter. Then, Tianwen-2 will visit a main belt comet, named comet 311P/PANSTARRS. China's Tianwen-2 Mission follows similar missions by the United States, Russia, and Japan, except China will explore an asteroid and a comet in a single mission for the first time in history.
The next Tianwen mission after this one is a Mars sample return mission in 2028. Of course, Tianwen-2 is the second in the Tianwen (meaning “Heavenly Questions” or “Questions to Heaven”) exploration series. The first, Tianwen-1, included a Mars orbiter and surface rover, named Zhurong. Tianwen-4 will launch around 2030. It will include a solar-powered Jupiter orbiter which will observe the system and then enter orbit around the moon Callisto—potentially including a lander—and a smaller, radioisotope-powered spacecraft to make a flyby of Uranus. These missions are also part of a wider, planetary exploration roadmap focused on astrobiology and habitability, and a long-term plan for space science.
China’s first asteroid flyby of 4179 Toutatis was in 2012, when the Chang’e-2 lunar orbiter made this an extended mission objective. Tianwen-2 aims to provide vital data to help us understand the nature of asteroids and comets. The Kamoʻoalewa asteroid travels in a similar orbit to Earth. A Tianwen-2 reentry module containing the samples will be released for atmospheric entry, descent and landing, but the main Tianwen-2 spacecraft will use the Earth’s gravity for a swingby, setting it on course for a six-year-voyage to comet 311P/PANSTARRS that orbits between 1.94 and 2.44 astronomical units from the Sun. Tianwen-2 carries multispectral and infrared spectrometers to study surface composition, while high-resolution cameras will map geological features. A radar sounder will probe subsurface structures, and a magnetometer will search for residual magnetic fields. Dust and gas analyzers will examine comet activity, and charged particle detectors will investigate solar wind interactions. The Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is understood to have contributed to the particle detectors.
Tianwen-2 Mission Timeline (Tentative):
Arrival at asteroid Kamoʻoalewa: July 4, 2026
👋 Departure: April 24, 2027
🌏 Reentry capsule landing: Nov. 29, 2027
☄️Arrival at comet 311P: Jan. 24, 2035
The CNSA has described 311P/PanSTARRS as a “living fossil”, making it useful for studying the early material composition, formation process and evolutionary history of the solar system. Comet 311P orbits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids reside, containing over 90 percent of the asteroids in the solar system. It displays features of both comets and asteroids. It has become the seventh main-belt comet confirmed by human beings, and it is also the most peculiar one so far. According to the conventional theory, comets typically originate from the outer edges of the solar system and are rich in ice. As they approach the sun, the heat causes the ice to vaporize, forming their characteristic tails. However, Comet 311P, located in the asteroid belt—far closer to the sun than typical comets—faces intense solar radiation, making it unlikely to retain volatile substances like water ice. This comet challenges astronomers' traditional understanding.
Tianwen-2 will conduct remote sensing of the comet to characterize its orbit, shape, and rotation, examine its surface composition and volatile elements, and investigate dust emissions and activity mechanisms to understand cometary behavior in the main belt.
Comet 311P/PanSTARRS also known as P/2013 P5 (PanSTARRS) was discovered by Bryce T. Bolin using the Pan-STARRS telescope on August 27, 2013. Observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that it had six comet-like tails. The tails are suspected to be streams of material ejected by the asteroid as a result of a rubble pile asteroid spinning fast enough to remove material from it. This is similar to 331P/Gibbs that was found to be a quickly-spinning rubble pile as well.+
The Tianwen-2 Mission aims to advance China’s planetary exploration capabilities, provide new insights into the understanding of small planetary bodies and their evolutions, and potentially for planetary defense and the origins of life.
Asteroid 2016 HO3 was first spotted on April 27, 2016, by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii, operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy and funded by NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The size of this object has not yet been firmly established, but it is likely larger than 120 feet (40 meters) and smaller than 300 feet (100 meters).
While China has conducted two successful lunar sample return missions, the velocity of the reentry module will be greater for Tianwen-2, marking China’s first second-cosmic-velocity atmospheric reentry, at 12 kilometers per second, adding new challenges. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) conducted high-altitude parachute deployment tests for the mission in 2023. In contrast to the lunar sampling missions, Kamoʻoalewa will have negligible gravity, requiring specialized approaches for orbiting, approaching and sampling.
The spacecraft will attempt up to three methods of sampling: hover sampling, collecting samples with a robotic arm while matching the asteroid’s rotation; touch-and-go (TAG), using a rotating brush head; and anchored sampling. Its landing legs will use drills to press into the asteroid, if the surface composition and terrain allow. The TAG approach was used by both NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa2.
The asteroid is considered a quasi-satellite of Earth due to its co-orbital dynamics. Kamoʻoalewa is possibly a piece of the moon blasted into space following an impact event, according to researchers, based on spectral analyses. Analysis of the samples aims to reveal the nature and origin of the asteroid, analyze its mineral content and provide comparisons with other asteroids. Leah-Nani Alconcel at the University of Birmingham, UKShe says that the mission is daring, as Kamoʻoalewa is spinning. This will make landing harder. Navigation algorithms are likely to demand such powerful computers that images and sensor readings will be sent back to Earth for computation. “If we were to always pick lovely, cooperative objects, we wouldn’t learn a lot,” she says. “There’s a lot that could potentially go wrong.”
Video Credit: New China TV Duration: 38 seconds Release Date: May 28, 2025
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