Long March 3B/E | Tianwen-2
Launch Successful
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Tianwen-2 is a planned Chinese asteroid sample return and comet orbiter mission due for launch in May 2025. The spacecraft will visit the Near Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3), collecting samples from its surface using both touch-and-go and anchor-and-drill approaches. It will return the samples back to Earth around 2.5 years after launch, with the main spacecraft proceeding to visit the main-belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS in the mid-2030s.
Launch success.
Liftoff.
Added launch window.
NET May 28 UTC. (Launch pad is per https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/f8ojaDIp7LsRK8hPfpfLwg)
Added launch.
The Long March 3B / E (G2) (CZ-3B / E) is one of the most successful medium-range launchers and the strongest variant of the CZ-3 series. It was specially developed for the transport of heavy communications satellites into a geostationary transfer orbit. The additional designation "E" stands for a higher payload fairing, stretched boosters and extended fuel tanks at the first stage, over the CZ-3B.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.
INFO WIKI
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HELSINKI — China’s Tianwen-2 sample return spacecraft has arrived at Kamoʻoalewa, revealing the near Earth asteroid to be a small, elongated rocky body. Tianwen-2 launched May 29, 2025, and traveled […] The post Tianwen-2 arrives at aster…
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