<p>China plans to launch an uncrewed probe around 2025 to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid and explore a comet, the official <em>Xinhua </em>news agency reported on Monday, citing a senior space expert.</p>.<p>The chief goal of the Tianwen-2 mission is to send a probe to the asteroid 2016HO3 to retrieve samples, said Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of China's planetary exploration program and of the Tianwen-2 mission.</p>.<p>"If successful, it would be China's first samples collected from interplanetary space," Zhang said, adding that a spacecraft will be sent to fly around and then land on the asteroid to collect the samples.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/awe-inspiring-nasas-time-lapse-video-of-earth-from-outer-space-mesmerizes-all-1212217.html" target="_blank">'Awe-inspiring': NASA's time-lapse video of Earth from outer space mesmerizes all</a></strong></p>.<p>After completing the task, the spacecraft is expected to continue its journey to explore a comet in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Zhang said.</p>.<p>2016HO3 - likely no larger than 100 metres (300 feet) across - was first spotted by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope in Hawaii in April 2016.</p>.<p>The asteroid orbits around the sun on an elliptical path that also approximates the Earth's. It also circles around Earth like a "quasi-satellite", according to NASA.</p>.<p>China's uncrewed Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed on Mars in 2021, making China the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the planet.</p>.<p>China would not be the first nation to land on an asteroid.</p>.<p>In 2021, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft landed on Bennu, a skyscraper-sized asteroid some 320 million km (200 million miles) from Earth.</p>.<p>A Japanese probe landed on Ryugu, an asteroid 250 million km from Earth, in 2019. </p>
<p>China plans to launch an uncrewed probe around 2025 to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid and explore a comet, the official <em>Xinhua </em>news agency reported on Monday, citing a senior space expert.</p>.<p>The chief goal of the Tianwen-2 mission is to send a probe to the asteroid 2016HO3 to retrieve samples, said Zhang Rongqiao, chief designer of China's planetary exploration program and of the Tianwen-2 mission.</p>.<p>"If successful, it would be China's first samples collected from interplanetary space," Zhang said, adding that a spacecraft will be sent to fly around and then land on the asteroid to collect the samples.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/awe-inspiring-nasas-time-lapse-video-of-earth-from-outer-space-mesmerizes-all-1212217.html" target="_blank">'Awe-inspiring': NASA's time-lapse video of Earth from outer space mesmerizes all</a></strong></p>.<p>After completing the task, the spacecraft is expected to continue its journey to explore a comet in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Zhang said.</p>.<p>2016HO3 - likely no larger than 100 metres (300 feet) across - was first spotted by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope in Hawaii in April 2016.</p>.<p>The asteroid orbits around the sun on an elliptical path that also approximates the Earth's. It also circles around Earth like a "quasi-satellite", according to NASA.</p>.<p>China's uncrewed Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed on Mars in 2021, making China the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the planet.</p>.<p>China would not be the first nation to land on an asteroid.</p>.<p>In 2021, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft landed on Bennu, a skyscraper-sized asteroid some 320 million km (200 million miles) from Earth.</p>.<p>A Japanese probe landed on Ryugu, an asteroid 250 million km from Earth, in 2019. </p>