China launched a spacecraft that promises to return samples from an asteroid near Mars and yield “groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity’s knowledge of the cosmos”, the country’s space agency said. The Tianwen-2 probe launched early on Thursday from southern China aboard the workhorse Long March 3-B rocket.

The probe will collect samples from the asteroid 2016HO3 and explore the main-belt comet 311P, which lies even further from the Earth than Mars, according to the China National Space Administration. Samples from 2016HO3 are due to be returned in about two years.