China on Thursday launched its first space mission to retrieve samples from a nearby asteroid and conduct research back home, the Xinhua state news agency reported.
A successful completion of the mission could make China, a fast-growing space power, the third nation to get hold of the pristine asteroid rocks.
What do we know about the mission?
The mission began with a Long March-3B rocket carrying the Tianwen-2 probe blasting off from the Xichang launch site in southwestern Sichuan province at 1:31am, local time.
It took 18 minutes for the Tianwen-2 spacecraft to enter a transfer orbit for asteroid 2016HO3, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said, according to Xinhua.
“The spacecraft unfolded its solar panels smoothly, and the CNSA declared the launch a success,” the news agency wrote.
Tianwen-2 is scheduled to arrive at the asteroid in July 2026 and shoot a capsule packed with rocks back to Earth for a landing in November 2027.
The asteroid was discovered in 2016 by scientists in Hawaii and is roughly 40 to 100 metres in diametre and revolves relatively close to Earth.
The Tianmen-2 spacecraft is also tasked with exploring the comet 311P, according to the country's space agency.
China's ‘space dream’
China has swiftly made its mark with its expanding space program.
In the past few years, it has poured billions of dollars into its space program to achieve what President Xi Jinping describes as the country's “space dream.”
China already has its own space station, and in recent years, it has managed to send robots to the far side of the moon. It is now planning to send humans to the lunar surface by 2030.
