Near-Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa imaged from a distance of 20 km by Tianwen-2, July 2, 2026. Credit: CNSA
HELSINKI — China’s Tianwen-2 sample return spacecraft has arrived at Kamoʻoalewa, revealing the near Earth asteroid to be a small, elongated rocky body.
Tianwen-2 launched May 29, 2025, and traveled around 1 billion kilometers across 400 days to arrive at a distance of 20 km from the near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3). The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced the spacecraft’s arrival July 6, providing a first close up image of the asteroid.
CNSA had maintained silence regarding the mission as Tianwen-2 approached its target, while tracking by AMSAT-DL in Europe revealed that the spacecraft was in the vicinity of Kamo’oalewa and had made a series of engine burns. The July 6 statement reveals that Tianwen-2 arrived at 30,000 kilometers from the asteroid June 7, closing to 2,000 km June 19.
The 20 km station point that Tianwen-2 has now reached marks the starting point for close-proximity science operations, including global mapping and surveying and sample site selection.
