Chinese Mars probe captures interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission probe has successfully captured images of an interstellar object, identified as 3I/ATLAS , using its high-resolution camera , the China National Space Administration (CNSA) reported.

Discovered on July 1, 2025, by a surveillance telescope in Chile, Comet 3I/ATLAS is the third known interstellar object to visit the solar system and represents the first interstellar object imaged by a Chinese mission .

During the observation, the probe was approximately 30 million kilometers from the comet , making this one of the closest observations of an interstellar object ever made by a probe.

Scientists believe that 3I/ATLAS formed around ancient stars near the center of the Milky Way , with an estimated age between 3 and 11 billion years , perhaps older than our solar system. This makes 3I/ATLAS a rare specimen for studying the composition and evolution of exoplanets and the early history of stars, with considerable scientific value .

"Because 3I/ATLAS follows a hyperbolic orbit, different from the elliptical orbits of objects around the Sun, it is clear that it comes from beyond the solar system and will eventually move away from it," said Liu Jianjun , chief designer of the ground application system of China's first Mars mission.