Tianwen 2 has taken off: asteroid and comet, China wants to reign in spatial exploration

China has a huge ambition in the space field, soft power obliges, and gives itself the means of its success. Thursday evening, it is a long rocket walking 3B that took off, with a probe on board to collect asteroid samples in the way ofOsiris Rexbefore going to be a comet.

Tianwen is the name of a Chinese poem that could be translated as “questioning in heaven” and which includes 172 celestial addresses. A concept that would no doubt have liked the Italian poet Leopardi with his famous “Chefa you, Luna, in Heaven?”

An asteroid that could be a moon fragment to start

The first target of Tianwen 2 is Kamo’oalewa, a modest geocroiser asteroid from 50 m to 100 m in diameter. This almost satellite of our planet has an interesting particularity: its chemical composition is very similar to that of lunar silicates who have stayed in space. It could therefore be a fragment of the moon ejected following a huge impact. Some specialists suggest that the relatively recent Giordano Bruno crater could be its origin.

No fear of having, this geocreur still remains in the furrow of the earth, but does not approach it more than 15 million kilometers. Tianwen 2 must recover samples of Kamo’oalewa with the method of touch and gousing a robotic arm suckling the debris of the small asteroid following a brief contact. Tianwen should also try a surface landing, and given the very low gravity of the small asteroid, it will not necessarily be easy. The sample return is announced for 2027.

Second step, the 311p/Panstarrs comet

The Chinese probe will then leave to reach 311p/Panstarrs, a star whose nature locates it on the increasingly vague border between asteroids and comets. This journey will lead the Chinese probe into the asteroid belt at a distance between 400 and 555 million kilometers from the prohibited city. It will thus become the Chinese probe that has traveled the furthest in space and should reach its destination around 2033-2034.

This scientific objective aims to determine the amount of water present in this hybrid star and benefit from a better understanding of the place of this element in the solar system. “Technologically, it will be an important step in the progression of China aimed at catching up Japan, the United States and Europe in the field of exploration of distant space, beyond the moon”explains to AFP Chen Lan, specialist in the Chinese space program.

Want to save even more? Discover Our promo codes Selected for you.