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China conducts parachute tests for returning asteroid sample to Earth

China has successfully conducted tests of the parachute design that will be used by the sample return capsule of its Tianwen-2 mission to grab samples from the near Earth asteroid dubbed 469219 Kamoʻoalewa.

The mission will launch on a Long March 3B rocket in 2025, and rendezvous with the asteroid in 2025. After getting its samples and releasing the sample return capsule, the plan is to then send Tianwen-2 to Comet 311P/PANSTARRS, arriving in the 2030s.

The probe uses fanlike solar panels, apparently copied from those used by NASA’s Lucy asteroid probe. China also has copied the touch-and-go sample grab methods used by OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa-2, but it will also try its own original idea, to anchor to the asteroid and use drills in the probe’s landing legs.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

One comment

  • GaryMike

    Imitation is way easier.

    As if that’s not ever happened ever before.

    “Bragging Rights” is an actual thing. “Hold my beer” is too.

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