China’s Tianwen 2 probe, en route to gather samples from a near-Earth asteroid, has captured placing photographs of Earth and the moon shortly after launch. The snapshots, taken utilizing the spacecraft’s slim subject of view navigation sensor, present our planet and its pure satellite tv for pc as seen from roughly 590,000 kilometers away. Launched aboard a Lengthy March 3B rocket from Xichang on Could 28, the spacecraft is now on a multi-year journey to the small asteroid Kamo’oalewa, one among Earth’s recognized quasi moons, the place it’s going to conduct scientific surveys and pattern assortment.

Tianwen 2 Probe Sends Pictures from Deep Area, Prepares for Asteroid Pattern Return and Past

Based on a July 1 statement from the China Nationwide Area Administration (CNSA), the Earth picture was additionally taken on Could 30, whereas the moon was photographed just a few hours later from roughly the identical place. Tianwen 2 had been in orbit round Earth for greater than a month and had already traveled greater than 12 million kilometers by then. Officers have reportedly assured that the spacecraft is now in steady situation. The CNSA additionally shared an earlier image of the probe’s round photo voltaic array, additionally taken by an onboard engineering digital camera, exhibiting the spacecraft from an angle that’s seldom seen in flight.

China’s first asteroid sample-return mission, the 2nd within the Tianwen collection, will attain Kamo’oalewa in July 2026. The probe will map the asteroid, acquire samples, and carry them again to Earth in a capsule by late 2027, serving to researchers study extra in regards to the origins of planets and the historical past of the photo voltaic system.

It is the undisturbed elements within the asteroid that make it so invaluable, in accordance with Han Siyuan, a deputy director at CNSA’s Lunar Exploration and Area Engineering Centre, and it seemingly nonetheless carries unique info from the beginning of the photo voltaic system, he talked about.

China’s photo voltaic system program now has Earth’s gravity to make use of as a slingshot because it goals towards an opportunity encounter with 311P/PANSTARRS in 2035, marking one other advance for China’s deep-space exploration functionality after the profitable orbit of Mars, achieved with Tianwen 1 in 2020.