Tianwen-2 (asteroid sample return) - CZ-3B - Xichang - May 28, 2025 (17:31 UTC)

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Launch success and nominal spacecraft solar panels deployment have been confirmed: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5171466938090116

https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1927796660098245107

[Liss]

Xinhua:

http://www.news.cn/20250529/f63a8b3d7a394f5988ed9b0332c204bc/c.html

2025 05/29 02:36:20
来源：新华网
Source: Xinhuanet
新华社权威快报丨天问二号任务发射圆满成功
Xinhua News Agency Authoritative Express丨Tianwen-2 mission launch was a complete success
记者从国家航天局获悉，5月29日凌晨1时31分，我国在西昌卫星发射中心用长征三号乙运载火箭，成功将行星探测工程天问二号探测器发射升空。火箭飞行约18分钟后，将探测器送入地球至小行星2016HO3转移轨道。此后，探测器太阳翼正常展开，发射任务取得圆满成功。
Reporters learned from the National Space Administration that at 1:31 a.m. on May 29, our country successfully launched the planetary exploration project Tianwen-2 probe with the Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. After about 18 minutes of flight, the rocket sent the probe into the transfer orbit of the Earth to the asteroid 2016HO3. After that, the probe's solar panels unfolded normally, and the launch mission was a complete success.
天问二号主要任务目标是对小行星2016HO3进行探测、取样并返回地球，此后再对主带彗星311P开展科学探测。
The main mission goal of Tianwen-2 is to detect, sample and return to Earth asteroid 2016HO3, and then conduct scientific exploration of the main belt comet 311P.

[TheKutKu]

Patch

[catdlr]

[JulesVerneATV]

China launches Tianwen-2 mission to sample near Earth asteroid
https://spacenews.com/china-launches-tianwen-2-mission-to-sample-near-earth-asteroid/


All you need do in future is find a larger more massive one with more gravity. How to test any type of concept for a 'Space Elevator'?
a realistic sci-fi idea
rapidly rotating

https://users.wpi.edu/~paravind/Publications/PKASpace%20Elevators.pdf

Older than the book 'The Canterbury Tales'


Five witnesses from Canterbury reported to the abbey's chronicler, Gervase, that shortly after sunset on 18 June 1178, they saw "the upper horn [of the moon] split in two"

 
they think a chunk was likely blasted away from the actual moon relatively recently in the solar system's history

Harnessing Ceres: The Viability of Space Elevators for Asteroid Mining
https://medium.com/@anatole.martins6730/harnessing-ceres-the-viability-of-space-elevators-for-asteroid-mining-d230fbd26112

considered for use as a space station for Earth-to-Mars travel.
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022cosp...44..215F/abstract

[Steven Pietrobon]

Pixel counting indicates a G2.

208/158 = 1.32

G2 is 4/3 = 1.333 and G3 is 4.2/3 = 1.4.

[Steven Pietrobon]

SciNews video.

[edkyle99]

Did this go straight to solar orbit, or is it in an elliptical Earth orbit waiting to use spacecraft propulsion to reach escape velocity?

 - Ed Kyle

[TheKutKu]

Did this go straight to solar orbit, or is it in an elliptical Earth orbit waiting to use spacecraft propulsion to reach escape velocity?

 - Ed Kyle

Yes it went straight to solar orbit, it was announced to be "first time the CZ-3B sent a spacecraft to escape trajectory" with a separation speed of 11.6 km/s relative to the earth.

Source: Xinhua on Douyin https://v.douyin.com/fzy-G3MHcLM/

--
No pictures of the probe have been shared, however this more detailled render of it was (attached)

Short CCTV documentary of the launch and its preparation:
https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:5171656755445847?from=old_pc_videoshow

Other video:
https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:5171777496875022?from=old_pc_videoshow
https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:5171466455679003?from=old_pc_videoshow

[zubenelgenubi]

Pixel counting...

Thank you for your pixel-count shroud-ology posts! 

[astropl]

No pictures of the probe have been shared, [...]

https://postimg.cc/t7jq5QBW

[jcm]

Did this go straight to solar orbit, or is it in an elliptical Earth orbit waiting to use spacecraft propulsion to reach escape velocity?

 - Ed Kyle

Yes it went straight to solar orbit, it was announced to be "first time the CZ-3B sent a spacecraft to escape trajectory" with a separation speed of 11.6 km/s relative to the earth.

Source: Xinhua on Douyin https://v.douyin.com/fzy-G3MHcLM/

--
No pictures of the probe have been shared, however this more detailled render of it was (attached)

Short CCTV documentary of the launch and its preparation:
https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:5171656755445847?from=old_pc_videoshow

11.6 km/s is

Did this go straight to solar orbit, or is it in an elliptical Earth orbit waiting to use spacecraft propulsion to reach escape velocity?

 - Ed Kyle

Yes it went straight to solar orbit, it was announced to be "first time the CZ-3B sent a spacecraft to escape trajectory" with a separation speed of 11.6 km/s relative to the earth.

Source: Xinhua on Douyin https://v.douyin.com/fzy-G3MHcLM/

--
No pictures of the probe have been shared, however this more detailled render of it was (attached)

Short CCTV documentary of the launch and its preparation:
https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:5171656755445847?from=old_pc_videoshow

If 11.6 km/s is the inertial velocity, that corresponds to a C3 of between 11.7 and 14.0 km^2/s^2
It would be nice if China released the heliocentric orbital parameters!

[zubenelgenubi]

No pictures of the probe have been shared, [...]

https://postimg.cc/t7jq5QBW

Artist concept.
It would be great if they released some hardware photos and video.

[Blackstar]

Now that it is a real mission, either the heading should be changed or we should start a new thread.

[zubenelgenubi: Threads merged, as-is through the launch campaign, in Chinese sub-forum.  New posts regarding mission progress and operations should be placed in a new Space Science thread, as we do for other Solar System missions.]

[Satori]

Here it is Tianwen-2 - Asteroid sample return mission.

[koroljow]

Seger Yu (https://x.com/SegerYU) has published T0 to the millisecond as 01:31:24.123 local (https://x.com/SegerYU/status/1927942922332426581)