China is launching an ambitious mission to explore a main-belt asteroid and a comet. Scheduled for launch in late May, the Tianwen-3 mission will visit the near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa to collect samples which will be delivered to Earth in 2027. The spacecraft has reportedly been integrated into the Long March 3B rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
The mission to Kamoʻoalewa will be similar to NASA's OSIRIS-REx which delivered samples of the asteroid Bennu in 2023. Just like OSIRIS, the Tianwen spacecraft will jettison the sample module which will reenter the atmosphere with the asteroid samples and then swing by using Earth's gravity to the comet 311P/PANSTARRS.
The Kamoʻoalewa asteroid measures between 40-100 metres wide and is believed to be a piece of the Moon blasted into space a long time ago. It is also a quasi-satellite because, according to NASA, it is Earth's orbital companion as both orbit the Sun in an orbit that almost overlaps.
Tianwen-2 will attempt to collect samples using three methods which involve hovering over the asteroid and anchoring itself on the surface to drill using its landing legs. Since the asteroid will have negligible gravitational pull due to the its small size, it would require several different approaches for landing. According to Space News, China has not revealed the details of the mission but early proposals suggested the Tianwen-2 spacecraft will scoop between 200-1000 grams of samples and will be powered by solar panels similar to NASA's Lucy spacecraft.
When it's done with the asteroid, Tainwen-2 will head to the comet 311P/PANSTARRS and characterise its orbit, shape, and rotation, examine its surface composition and investigate dust emissions to understand cometary behavior.
Tianwen-2 will be followed by Tianwen-3 through which China aims to retrieve rock samples from Mars by 2028. Tianwen-1 was also launched toward Mars to explore the planet using the rover Zhurong. Launched in 2020, Tianwen-1 hit a roadblock after the rover entered hibernation in May 2022 due to declining solar power.
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