China To Launch A 2025 Asteroid Sample Return Mission

JAKARTA China will follow in the footsteps of the success of the US and Japan, which is to bring home asteroid samples to Earth. The plan is that this sampling mission will target the asteroid Kamo'oalewa next year.

To take samples from Kamo'oalewa, the Deputy Head of the China National Space Agency (CNSA) Bian Zhigang said they would fly the Tianwen-2 rocket. This rocket will take part of the asteroid using two techniques.

Quoting from Chinese media The Paper, Tianwen-2 will be directed to observe Kamo oalewa first. Once observed in close proximity, this spacecraft will sample and analyze the surface of its object before taking it home.

Tianwen-2 will take a sample of Kamo'oalewa using touch and loose and anchor and tide techniques. The first technique has been tested through NASA's OSIRIS-REx and JAXA's Hayabusa 2 missions, but the second technique has never been used.

This sampling process will take 2.5 years so that Kamo'oalewa is expected to arrive on Earth in 2028. In addition to targeting Kamo'oalewa, Tianwen-2 is also targeting an active asteroid named 311P/PANSTARRS or P/2013 P5.

This asteroid is expected to arrive around the 2030s. The plan related to sampling P/2013 P5 has not been disclosed by CNSA because the arrival schedule is still unclear. The second sampling target may be distributed in the next few years.

Kamo'oalewa is an asteroid similar to Earth's satellite, namely the Moon. This astronomical object is 40 to 100 meters in diameter. Some researchers believe that this asteroid is a fraction of the moon which was then thrown into space.

To find out the various elements and origins of their formation, the researchers must closely observe the Kamooalewa sample. The information obtained from the Kamooalewa sample research may provide important information regarding the evolution of the solar system.