Tianwen-2 Mission

Tianwen-2 Mission Latest News

China is set to launch its Tianwen-2 mission, which aims to survey and sample the near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamo‘oalewa.

About Tianwen-2 Mission

• Launch Vehicle: Long March 3B rocket.
• Launch Site: Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, Sichuan Province, China.
• Agency: China National Space Administration (CNSA).
• Objective: Survey and sample asteroid Kamo’oalewa, then travel to the asteroid belt to study comet 311P/PANSTARRS.

What is Asteroid Kamo‘oalewa?

• Kamo‘oalewa is a near-Earth asteroid discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakalā, Hawaii.
• It belongs to a rare class called quasi-satellites of Earth, which orbit the Sun, but remain gravitationally influenced by Earth due to their close proximity.
• It follows a highly elliptical solar orbit and appears to alternate between leading and trailing Earth, giving the illusion of orbiting Earth.
• Kamo‘oalewa has been in its current orbit for ~100 years, and is expected to stay for another 300 years, though quasi-satellite orbits are inherently unstable over long timescales.

Tianwen-2’s Sampling Strategy

• Tianwen-2 will use the “touch-and-go” technique to collect samples — a method also used by NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex and Japan’s Hayabusa2 missions.
• In this method, the spacecraft briefly hovers over the asteroid’s surface, where a robotic arm releases a projectile or gas burst to dislodge particles, which are captured in a chamber.
• A backup “anchor-and-attach” method may be used, where four robotic arms drill into the surface to retrieve subsurface material.

About Tianwen Series

• The Tianwen series (meaning “Heavenly Questions”, inspired by the classical Chinese poem by Qu Yuan) represents China’s growing ambitions in deep space exploration.
• Tianwen-1, launched in 2020, became China’s first successful Mars mission, delivering an orbiter, lander, and rover to the Martian surface. The rover ceased operation in 2022.
• Tianwen-3, expected by 2028, aims to retrieve samples from Mars, placing China among the few nations planning interplanetary sample return missions.

Tianwen-2 Mission FAQs

Q1. What is the Tianwen-2 Mission?
Ans: Tianwen-2 is China’s planned asteroid sample-return mission, aimed at collecting samples from a near-Earth asteroid and studying it.

Q2. Who is conducting the Tianwen-2 Mission?
Ans: The mission is being led by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Q3. What is the target asteroid for Tianwen-2?
Ans: Tianwen-2 is expected to target the asteroid 2016 HO3, a quasi-satellite of Earth.

Source: IE