BEIJING, May 18: China’s Tianwen-2 space probe is now in the final stages of preparations for launch at the end of May, China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Sunday.
The probe, part of China’s expanding deep-space exploration programme, has been transferred to the launch area at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province after completing assembly, fuelling, and system testing, reported CGTN the country’s state-owned media platform.
An ambitious venture, the dual-target deep-space exploration project aims to collect a sample from a near-Earth asteroid and later study a main-belt comet.
The mission will be carried into space by a Long March-3B Y110 rocket, which was transported to the launch pad on May 14 and has since undergone lifting and docking procedures. In the coming days, the Tianwen-2 spacecraft will undergo a series of functional checks and integrated system tests ahead of liftoff.
The mission’s first target is asteroid 469219 Kamo oalewa, a small, quasi-satellite of Earth believed to be lunar in origin. Tianwen-2 will attempt to return at least 100 grams of regolith using touch-and-go and anchoring techniques, with the sample expected back on Earth in about 2.5 years.
Following the sample return, the probe will continue on to 311P/PANSTARRS, a comet-like asteroid in the main asteroid belt, where it will study surface activity and composition, contributing to research on the origins of water and organic compounds in the solar system.
Tianwen-2 will carry a suite of instruments including spectrometers, high-resolution cameras, a radar sounder, a magnetometer, and dust/gas analysis machines, many of which have been developed with international cooperation.
Tianwen-2 is China’s second interplanetary mission, following the successful Tianwen-1 mission to Mars, which delivered a lander and rover to the Martian surface in 2021.
The mission highlights China’s significant advancements in space technology and its growing status as a major space power, with ongoing plans that include crewed lunar missions, a permanent space station, and future Martian exploration. (UNI)
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