China plans to launch its
second-ever deep space exploration effort in 2025, according to the chief designer of the country's Tianwen 1 Mars mission.
Zhang Rongqiao told China
Central Television on May 13 that the Tianwen 2 asteroid probe has entered the engineering development stage.
Zhang said
"The components are undergoing comprehensive testing,"
Zhang said
"The components are undergoing comprehensive testing We are moving forward as scheduled and expect to launch it in 2025,"
Tianwen 1 was a big step for China
it was the country's first fully homegrown interplanetary mission and pulled off China's first landing on another planet
The 10-year-plus Tianwen 2
mission will first target the small near-Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa, which may actually be a blasted-off piece of Earth's moon.