China’s main space contractor has conducted several successful high-altitude parachute tests as part of its plans to collect asteroid samples and return them safely to Earth. The Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC)-led Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) recently conducted a launch test in the Gobi Desert in northwest China, CASC announced on June 23.

The test payload also included a sample return device developed by the Beijing Institute of Aerospace Engineering and Electronics (BISME) under the guidance of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), another major subsidiary of CASC. Testing is currently underway for the Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission and comet rendezvous, scheduled to launch on the Long March 3B rocket in May 2025.

The mission will target the near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, collect samples and return to Earth approximately 2.5 years after launch. The parachute, along with the sample cup, will be used to slow the descent of the return capsule after re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

CASC has developed space-entry parachutes for the manned spaceflight program, the Mars-lander Tianwen-1 rover and the Chang’e-5 mission, and the upcoming Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6 missions in 2020. The country is also working on an unprecedented mission to return the samples to Mars.

Kamoʻoalewa is a semi-satellite of the Earth with a diameter of about 40-100 meters. Maybe this is the part of the moon that flew into space after the collision.

Tianwen-2 will use two methods to sample the asteroid. It will be the tap-and-go approach used by both NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa2, and will be a docking and anchoring system with drills at the ends of the landing legs.

After delivering the samples to Earth, the spacecraft will use the approach to the planet for a gravitational sling maneuver to send it to main belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS. The comet orbits between 1.94 and 2.44 AU from the Sun, and the spacecraft is expected to rendezvous with the body in the mid-2030s.

China performed a similar maneuver in 2020, sending lunar samples to Earth with Chang’e-5. The service module for this mission used the return to Earth as a flight to embark on an extended mission to the Sun-Earth 1 Lagrange point.

CASC has identified the construction of the Tianwen-2 spacecraft as a key target in its 2023 plans, along with the construction of the Chang’e-7 south pole-landing spacecraft, Chang’e-7. The Tianwen-2 spacecraft will have a pair of circular fan-shaped solar arrays to generate power, similar in appearance to NASA’s Lucy mission spacecraft. It will also carry eight payloads for scientific purposes.

China’s Tianwen missions are the country’s flagship deep space exploration missions. An orbiter and rover of Tianwen-1 will reach Mars in 2021, while Tianwen-3 will collect samples from the Red Planet. Tianwen-4 will target the Jupiter system on a separate flyby near Uranus. The final mission is scheduled to launch around 2030. Meanwhile, the Chinese Academy of Sciences is considering a proposal to collect samples from the E-type asteroid 1989 ML. China is also planning an asteroid deflection test for 2025. Source