China’s latest deep space mission aims to investigate whether rocky debris ejected from planetary surfaces in the early Solar System could have helped distribute life’s key ingredients across space.
The Tianwen-2 spacecraft, launched on May 29, is on its way to collect material from a small near-Earth asteroid that may be a piece of the Moon. After that, it will travel even farther to study a mysterious object in the asteroid belt that behaves like a comet.
Researchers hope the samples will offer fresh clues about how planets like Earth were formed, and whether rocks could have travelled between worlds, carrying water, organic molecules or even microbes with them.
“We selected two targets for this mission: the asteroid 2016 HO3 and the main-belt comet 311P,” said Chen Chunliang from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
“Both targets hold significant scientific value. The mission allows us to develop new asteroid exploration technologies while collecting data that could help us better understand how the Solar System began.”
The asteroid, also known as Kamoʻoalewa, is a strange little object just 40 metres wide. It orbits the Sun in sync with Earth, making it a “quasi-moon”, an asteroid that stays close to our planet but does not orbit it directly.
Its exact origin is uncertain, but one leading theory suggests it may be a chunk of the Moon that was blasted into space by an ancient impact.
Prof Erik Asphaug, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, said the asteroid is a perfect example of the mix of space rocks that circle near Earth, including pieces of the Moon, dead comets, broken-up asteroids and leftovers from the early Solar System.
“By studying samples from what may be a fragment of the Moon, scientists can figure out how intense the impact was that launched it into space, and whether those conditions could have been survivable for tiny life forms on a planet like Mars,” he said.
That idea ties into a scientific theory known as panspermia, the possibility that life, or the ingredients for it, may have travelled between planets inside rocks ejected by powerful impacts.
Scientists are also interested in the asteroid’s size and spin rate. It completes one rotation every 28 minutes, which is too fast for loosely held-together pile of rocks to stay intact.
Mr Asphaug said this could suggest that the asteroid is a single solid piece of rock, or a monolith.
“But how do you eject a 40 metre intact chunk of rock from the Moon, when to escape it has to be accelerated to lunar escape velocity, which is about 2 kilometres a second? This is five times faster than a high-powered rifle bullet,” he said.
“That is the geophysical adventure of Tianwen-2. The compositional adventure may be less stunning, if indeed it is a fragment of the lunar crust, but there’s a great deal to learn from its process of ejection,” said Mr Asphaug.
“And I guess there’s a small chance that we’ll be completely surprised, that it’s not a fragment of the Moon at all, in which case there is a lot of explaining to do.”
Tianwen-2 will attempt to return samples from the asteroid to Earth by 2027. After completing that phase, the spacecraft will use an Earth gravity assist to journey to comet 311P/PANSTARRS, an object in the asteroid belt that occasionally shoots comet-like tails.
The second part of the mission will take several more years, with the spacecraft studying the comet’s surface and behaviour in detail.
“In space exploration it has become obvious that there is a most-bang-for-the-buck way of going about asteroid and comet exploration,” said Mr Asphaug.
“Consider Nasa’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid rendezvous mission … having returned its sample, now it is heading to a second rendezvous, this time with asteroid Apophis.
“But this secondary mission was not part of the original mission so is subject to ongoing budgetary pressure.”
Japan also has a similar mission, with the Hayabusa2 having successfully returning samples of the Ryugu asteroid in 2020, and is now heading towards another small asteroid.
China’s mission builds on the country’s growing portfolio of successful robotic space flights.
In 2020, Chang’e-5 returned samples from the Moon’s near side. Two years later, Chang’e-6 brought back the first samples from the Moon’s far side − another global first.
The Tianwen-2 mission also comes at a time when Nasa is struggling with major budget cuts, forcing delays and downsizing across several of its flagship science programmes, including plans for Mars sample return.
China is developing its own Mars sample return programme, potentially launching later this decade.
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
THE BIO
Favourite book: ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren
Favourite travel destination: Switzerland
Hobbies: Travelling and following motivational speeches and speakers
Favourite place in UAE: Dubai Museum
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
Honeymoonish
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The years Ramadan fell in May
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if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
The info
Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
FIGHT INFO
Men’s 60kg Round 1:
Ahmad Shuja Jamal (AFG) beat Krisada Takhiankliang (THA) - points
Hyan Aljmyah (SYR) beat Akram Alyminee (YEM) - retired Round 1
Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) beat Bhanu Pratap Pandit (IND) - TKO Round 1
Men’s 71kg Round 1:
Seyed Kaveh Soleyman (IRI) beat Abedel Rahman (JOR) - RSC round 3.
Amine Al Moatassime (UAE) walk over Ritiz Puri (NEP)
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
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The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
MWTC
Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.
The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
In Langkawi, Temple Tree is a unique architectural villa hotel consisting of antique houses from all across Malaysia. Rooms cost from Dh350, including taxes.
