Chinese state media says the mission aims โto shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroidsโ and the Earth.
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 โsignificant stepโ in Beijingโs ambitions for interplanetary exploration.
Chinaโs 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 Chinaโs Sichuan province. It was carrying the Tianwen-2 spacecraft, a robotic probe that could make China the third nation to fetch pristine asteroid rocks.
Announcing the launch, Chinese state-run news outlets said the โspacecraft unfolded its solar panels smoothlyโ, and that the China National Space Administration (CNSA) had โdeclared the launch a successโ.
Over the next year, Tianwen-2 will approach a small near-Earth asteroid some 10 million miles (16 million km) away, named โ469219 Kamoสปoalewaโ, also known as 2016HO3.
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.
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.
The Peopleโs Daily state-run newspaper described the missionโs purpose as an โendeavour to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the early solar systemโ.
The newspaper quoted Shan Zhongde, the head of the CNSA, as saying that the mission represented a โsignificant step in Chinaโs new journey of interplanetary explorationโ. He added that the mission was expected to yield โgroundbreaking discoveries and expanding humanityโs knowledge of the cosmosโ.
The mission has multiple goals over the โdecade-long expeditionโ, according to Chinese state media, including โcollecting samples from near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3โ and โexploring the main-belt comet 311Pโ.
It will also aim to measure the โphysical parameters of the two celestial targetsโ, including their โorbital dynamics, rotation, size, shape and thermal propertiesโ.
The samples will be used to determine the โphysical properties, chemical and mineral composition and structural characteristicsโ of asteroids, according to researchers working on the project.
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).
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 and collecting humankindโs first-ever samples from the area in June last year.
China is also running its own Tiangong space station in orbit โ the only operational space station other than the International Space Station (ISS) โ after the US barred it from participating in the ISS.
In April, three crew members landed back in the countryโs north after spending six months on boardย Tiangong in what was the longest-ever mission in space by Chinese astronauts.
Beijing has also invested heavily in planned crewed missions to the Moon that would see Chinese astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030.
The US has also stated its aim to put astronauts back on the Moon for the first time since 1972, with NASA planning to launch its Artemis 3 mission in 2026 at the earliest.
