An impression of an artist of quasy-satellite land on the ground, the first destination of Tianwen-2 Mission
Addy Graham / University of Arizona
The final preparations belonged to China to launch an irreversible design to visit an asteroid and comet, in hope to know more about space rocks in our Solang System.
The Tianwen-2 Mission of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) collects a 100-gram sample from asteroid kayo’ealeale and return it to the ground. After taking the sample, smoke uses the gravity of our planet as a slingshot To encourage self to comet 311p / Pantarrs, which will observe a distance.
The mission is due to launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province On May 29 May. This is not the first to return to the samples of asteroids on the ground, as the NASA’s Osirisis-rex and jaxa’s Hayabusa That’s done on missions. But this is the first Chinese mission to an asteroid involving the return of a rock sample, and is likely to be the first mission of a unique body type called a satellite.
Satellites are like yella is not a strict orbit of the ground, but traveling to the same orbit to us around the sun, swing around our planet while they do it. This unusual condition brings scientists who suspect this one Chunk of the moon Mildled in millions of years ago with an asteroid effect.
On the other hand, 311p / panstarrs There is an asteroid-like orbit – sorting our day at asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter – but in a look like a comet because it has tails. It is suspected of dust pieces and debris thrown away from his spinning to its body.
The CNSA used to say That’s 311p / panstarrs is a “living fossil”, which makes it useful for studying early material composition, formulating solar formulation. And Tianwen-2 will give scientists with a better understanding of Kamo’oalewa and 311p / panstarrs. However, the results will not come easily: the craft should reach 311p / Panstars in 2034, and even the sample of Kamo’oalewa is expected to return to the world in the late 2027.
Exactly how to share CNSA about the discoveries too is not clear. Leah-Nani Alconcel At the University of Birmingham, UK, says the outline of the mission is known, and a likely purpose is to study asteroids and comets to obtain a deeper understanding of our solar system, but the precise details do not come.
Alconcel’s previous experience working with CNSA in Double Star Satellite lead him to suspicion that the agency will proceed with the result of scientific data tightly tight. “It is very difficult to negotiate (in CNSA),” Alconcel said. “Once they have some information from us, they don’t want to be so much to retaliate. No public repositor in this data, I don’t think.”
He says that mission is daring, because kayo’oaleda wasted, making landing the more lighter. Navigation algorithms are likely to demand strong computers that images and sensor readings will be re-sent to the world for comparison. “If we often choose beautiful, cooperative things, we don’t learn,” he said. “There’s a lot to be bad.”
CNSA does not respond to New ScientistInterview request for interview.
Topics:
