China launches mission to retrieve asteroid samples

CHINA embarked 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.

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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 centrer carrying the Tianwen-2 robotic probe.

Over the next year it will approach the small near-Earth asteroid 469219 KamoXoalewa, 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.