China's asteroid sample-return mission to advance humanity’s understanding of cosmos: experts

China's successful launch of its first-ever asteroid probe and sample-return mission, Tianwen-2, is a new landmark endeavor to further humanity's understanding of the cosmos, including how asteroids and the Earth formed and evolved, according to two Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) engineers at a press briefing on Thursday.

A Long March-3B rocket, carrying spacecraft Tianwen-2 ("Questions to Heaven" in Chinese), lifted off at 01:31 Beijing Time Thursday from southwest China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

Tianwen-2 will collect pristine samples from a near-Earth asteroid, 2016HO3, return them to Earth, and explore the main-belt comet 311P, which is more distant than Mars.

The probe is expected to return asteroid samples to Earth in 2027,with the whole mission to last a decade long.

If successful, China will become only the third country in the world to carry out such a mission after Japan and the United States.

The Tianwen-2 mission is the latest example of China's cosmic achievements in recent years, which include returning samples from both the near and far sides of the Moon, launching a successful mission to probe Mars, running its own national space station in orbit, and moving ahead in its plan to send humans to the lunar surface by 2030.

Liu Jianjun, a researcher at the CAS's National Astronomical Observatories and deputy chief engineer of the Tianwen-2 mission, said at the press briefing that studying asteroids, known as "cosmic fossils," can provide important clues about the solar system's infancy and the Earth's evolution.

"Asteroids are a very special celestial body in our solar system. They maintain a relatively primitive state seen in the early stage of our solar system's formation, so studying them can greatly help us understand the infancy of the solar system. More importantly, studying asteroids provides very important clues for us to understand the Earth and its evolution," said Liu.

Significantly, depending on the 2016HO3's surface conditions, Tianwen-2 will employ three approaches for sample collection -- hover sampling, touch-and-go, and attachment sampling, which makes China the first country in the world to design multiple asteroid sampling techniques.

Su Yan, another researcher of the CAS's National Astronomical Observatories and chief engineer of the Tianwen-2 mission's ground application system, added that China's foray into asteroid sample return demonstrates the significant advancement in its deep space exploration technologies.

"Based on the unknown features of asteroids, the probe has been specially designed with three sampling methods. It is also the first time in the world that so many sampling techniques have been designed by a country. Since we have, until now, just started to conduct exploration on this type of targets, it marks a significant improvement in our country's deep space exploration technologies," Su said.

China's asteroid sample-return mission to advance humanity’s understanding of cosmos: experts

Flowers with novel appearances drew strong interest from visitors at this year's Hortiflorexpo IPM Beijing, which ran from April 10 to 12.

With more Chinese consumers seeking products that offer emotional value, expo visitors were noticing not only traditional, beautiful flowers, but also those newer, more distinctive varieties.

Among the many blooms on display, those featuring widely recognized icons stood out as especially eye catching.

"This is the Psychopsis papilio, also known as 'Monkey King'. You can see that its flower has three tendrils, which vividly resembles the pheasant feathers worn by Monkey King," said Zha Niyi, an exhibitor, introducing the flower commonly known as the butterfly orchid.

Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, is from a classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West, written by Wu Cheng'en during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Monkey King has stood as one of the most iconic symbols of Chinese culture, embodying generations of Chinese people's imagination of a hero.

This growing consumer interest is also evident in the flowers' sales volumes. In 2025, China’s fresh-cut flower exports surged by over 40 percent, surpassing 200 million U.S. dollars for the first time. Over the past five years, the country's total flower exports have exceeded two billion U.S. dollars.

"This demonstrates that China's flower industry has a solid export base and strong production capacity with the approach of high-quality development," said Zhang Li, deputy director of the Market Circulation Branch of the China Flower Association.

As Chinese consumers become more willing to pay for experiences that generate positive emotions, visitors at the exhibition were increasingly drawn to flowers with cute names and auspicious meanings.

Consumers' growing desire for emotional fulfillment is also driving the wider development in the flower-consumption market. "A single flower can give rise to an entire industry and a whole sector," said Wang Caiyun, president of the Osmanthus Branch of the China Flower Association.

China has grown into the world's largest flower producer, a major consumer, and a leading trading country. Its flower economy now delivers annual output worth more than 520 billion yuan (about 76.16 billion U.S. dollars), driving employment and income growth for more than 220,000 business entities.

Novel flowers catch eyes at Hortiflorexpo IPM Beijing