XICHANG, May 26 (Xinhua) -- China's Tianwen-2 probe is scheduled for launch on May 29, aiming to unravel the mysteries of a near-Earth asteroid and a main-belt comet, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Monday.
The Tianwen-2 probe will collect samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3, which marks China's first-ever asteroid sampling, and explore the main-belt comet 311P, the agency said.
Currently, all mission preparations are progressing smoothly at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province and propellant loading of the Long March-3B Y110 rocket, which will execute the launch mission, is set to begin soon, the CNSA said.
Previously, the Tianwen-2 probe had completed a series of planned procedures including assembly, testing, fueling, relocation, functional checks, and joint tests, it said.
The rocket, transferred from the technical area to the launch area on May 14, has completed docking operations, payload integration, fairing assembly, and overall inspection and testing, it said, adding that coordinated drills were also conducted among various control centers and monitoring sites.
Discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, the asteroid 2016HO3 is a quasi-satellite of Earth, located millions to tens of millions of kilometers away from Earth.
The asteroid, which runs stably near the Earth's orbit, contains ancient materials from the early solar system, making it a "living fossil" that is useful for studying how the solar system formed and evolved.
The main-belt comet 311P, a celestial anomaly that orbits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered by American scientists in 2013. Regarded as a "rebel" of the main asteroid belt, it displays features of both comets and asteroids.
Studying it will provide researchers with valuable insights about the composition, structure and evolution of small space objects, helping to fill gaps in our understanding of the solar system.
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