CANBERRA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The global scientific community was watching with keen interest as China launched its Tianwen-2 probe on Thursday, a landmark dual-target mission aimed at unlocking the secrets of a near-Earth asteroid and a main-belt comet.
"The Tianwen-2 launch marks an exciting milestone in our ongoing exploration of the solar system," Sara Webb, a Melbourne-based astrophysicist and lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, told Xinhua.
"Every time we are able to return samples from solar system objects, we gain valuable insights into their formation and evolution," Webb said.
Tianwen-2 will mark China's first attempt at asteroid sampling, targeting the near-Earth object 2016HO3. After collecting samples and dispatching a return capsule to Earth, the spacecraft will continue its voyage to explore comet 311P -- an unusual "active asteroid" located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
"If successful, Tianwen-2 will make China the third nation to return asteroid samples to Earth, and the first to conduct a dual mission involving a comet," said Richard de Grijs, a Sydney-based astrophysicist at Macquarie University.
"As such samples are rare at this time," he said, "any additional data will, without a doubt, offer significant new scientific insights, allowing us to better understand our place, origin and evolutionary history in the solar system."
De Grijs, who also serves as executive director of the International Space Science Institute-Beijing (ISSI-BJ), placed the mission in a broader global context, highlighting its scientific and technological importance.
"While the solar system's inner planets have long been explored by many of the major space-faring nations, detailed, in-situ studies of small rocky bodies in the inner solar system have gradually gained in importance," he said.
The choice of Tianwen-2's targets adds scientific intrigue. The asteroid 2016HO3, a near-Earth object in a peculiar orbit that keeps it relatively close to our planet, may hold clues to early solar system history.
"It may be a fragment of the Moon that could have been dislodged by an earlier impact on the Moon," said de Grijs. He noted that its orbit and composition could shed light on lunar ejecta and the broader materials present during the solar system's formation.
After the asteroid sample is dispatched back to Earth, Tianwen-2 will continue toward comet 311P. Unlike comets that typically originate in the icy outer solar system, 311P resides in the main asteroid belt and behaves unusually -- displaying multiple tails and episodic dust ejections.
"Scientifically, a close-up look at this object will offer insights into how asteroids break up, the impact of solar radiation on asteroids and the nature of these active asteroids," de Grijs said.
He described Tianwen-2 as a major technological leap forward for China, building on the accomplishments of Tianwen-1, which successfully placed an orbiter, lander, and rover on Mars in May 2021, making China the second country to operate a rover on the Red Planet.
The Tianwen missions, named after a classical Chinese poem, represent China's efforts in interplanetary exploration.
"The mission will put China among the few nations (United States and Japan) capable of executing asteroid sample-return missions," he explained. "An innovation with respect to previous international missions is that it will continue to a second target, providing in-situ measurements. This is rare in a single mission."
One of the mission's boldest elements is its attempt at the world's first deep-space anchored sampling -- a complex operation involving secure landing on a low-gravity body.
De Grijs believes Tianwen-2 reflects China's strategic and steadily advancing exploration agenda.
"China is on a really interesting solar system exploration trajectory," he said. "Each mission is designed to test certain key new capabilities and so far, this appears to have worked very well."
He also emphasized the value of international collaboration in space science. While Australia is a relative newcomer to deep-space missions, it can play a key role in the scientific analysis of mission data.
"As scientists, irrespective of where one comes from, global scientific collaboration benefits everyone involved," added de Grijs, who is actively fostering such cooperation through his leadership at ISSI-BJ. Enditem
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