The mission is intended to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the Earth, Chinese state media said.

China has successfully launched the spacecraft as part of its first mission to retrieve samples of original asteroids, which researchers describe as a "important step" in Beijing's ambition to explore the field.

China's March 3 rocket rose at about 18:30 GMT local time on Thursday (18:30 GMT). It carries the Tianwang 2 spacecraft, a robotic detector that can make China the third country to acquire primitive asteroid rocks.

China's state-run news media announced the launch media said that "the spacecraft has smoothly unfolded solar panels" and China's National Space Administration (CNSA) "announced a successful launch."

Next year, Astronomy 2 will approach nearly 10 million miles (16 million kilometers) of near-Earth asteroids, known as "469219 Kamo'oalewa", also known as 2016HO3.

The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the asteroid, and researchers believe this is a possible fragment of the moon in July 2026. It will then return to Earth with rock samples in November 2027 to shoot capsules.

If successful, China would be the third country to take samples from an asteroid for the first time in 2010, followed by the United States in 2020.

The People's Daily State-run newspaper describes the purpose of the mission as "working to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the early solar system."

The report quoted CNSA chief Shan Zhongde, who said the mission represents an "important step in China's new interplanetary exploration journey." He added that the mission is expected to produce “groundbreaking discoveries and expand human knowledge of the universe.”

According to Chinese state media, the mission has multiple goals in the "Decade Expedition", including "collecting samples from near-Earth asteroid 2016ho3" and "Explore the main belt 311p".

It will also aim to measure “physical parameters of two celestial targets”, including their “orbital dynamics, rotation, size, shape and thermal properties.”

According to researchers on the project, the samples will be used to determine the "physical properties, chemical and mineral composition and structural characteristics" of the asteroid.

As the Earth's quasi-clear satellite, it orbits the sun in a path synchronized with the Earth for nearly a century, with the diameter of ho3 in 2016 between 120 feet (40 meters) and 300 feet (100 meters).

In recent years, China has rapidly expanded its space program and embarked on several landmark missions, including landing robots at the distance of the moon and collecting the first human samples from the region last June.

After the United States banned participation in ISS, China also operates its own Tianhe Space Station on the only operating space station (ISS) outside Orbit (ISS) (ISS).

In April, three crew members returned to the north of the country after spending six months on Tianhe on the longest space mission in space by Chinese astronauts.

Beijing has also invested heavily in planned crew missions, and will see Chinese astronauts on the moon's surface by 2030.

The United States also said it aims to re-land astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972, with NASA planning to launch the Artemis 3 Mission as early as 2026.