China's Tianwen-2 Launch: Asteroid Mission to Rewrite Space History

WORLD NEWS

By Aniket Chakraborty May 31, 2025 Arrow

The mission aims to retrieve pieces of , a tiny companion of Earth, in two years.

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It will then fly even farther to explore main-belt comet 311P—beyond Mars.

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Scientists hope these samples will reveal how water and life-forming elements arrived on Earth.

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This is China’s most ambitious interplanetary mission yet, lasting over a decade.

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Tianwen-2 launched aboard the Long March 3B from southern China early Thursday.

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China previously returned lunar samples from the moon’s far side—a first in space history.

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But collaboration with NASA remains blocked by U.S. laws restricting bilateral space ties.

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China’s Tiangong space station, fully self-built, now operates in low Earth orbit.

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With plans to reach Jupiter and the moon next, China’s cosmic ambitions are only growing.

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