Chinese spacecraft flew over the planet Toutatis

The Hang Nga 2 spacecraft successfully implemented a mission for China when it flew over the asteroid Toutatis 7 million kilometers from Earth.

Simulation of meteorite Toutatis

This is the first time an unmanned spacecraft from Earth flew over this asteroid at such a close distance.

Chinese Defense Science, Technology and Industry Bureau (SASTIND) on December 15 said the Hang Nga 2 ship flew over the asteroid Toutatis at 16:30 (8:30 GMT) on December 13 . With this move, China is the fourth country after the United States, the European Union and Japan to discover an asteroid by spacecraft.

According to the announcement of SASTIND, Hang Nga 2 ship passes through the asteroid Toutatis at a distance of only 3.2 km and takes photos of this celestial body at a relative speed of 10.73km / sec. The vessel will continue its journey deep into space and is expected to reach 10 million kilometers from Earth in January 2013.

The Hang Nga 2 ship was launched on October 1, 2010 from the Central Station of Tay Xuong satellite and then flew around the Moon's orbit to perform a more complex exploration task than Hang Nga 1.

Later, Hang Nga 2 left the Moon's trajectory to reach the Sun-Earth L2 Point and then continued to fly to Toutatis.