China’s Tianwen-2 Sample-Return Mission Arrives at Asteroid 2016 HO3
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China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has arrived at asteroid 2016 HO3 and begun scientific studies, after about a 400-day journey of roughly a billion kilometers (km) through deep space. This new image from July 2, 2026, was released on Monday, July 6, 2026 by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). It shows the target asteroid from roughly 20 km away.
China launched its first asteroid sample-return mission, Tianwen-2, on May 29, 2025, aiming to achieve multiple goals over a decade-long expedition: collecting samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 and exploring the main-belt comet 311P, more distant than Mars.
469219 Kamoʻoalewa (provisional designation 2016 HO3) is a very small Apollo-type near-Earth asteroid approximately 40–100 meters (130–330 feet) in diameter. It is an elongated object that rapidly rotates every 28 minutes. At present it is a quasi-satellite of Earth, and currently the second-smallest, closest, and most stable known such quasi-satellite (after 2023 FW13). Kamoʻoalewa was discovered by Pan-STARRS at Haleakala Observatory on April 27, 2016.
During the approach phase, the probe acquired imagery of the asteroid. The mission team leveraged optical navigation data gathered during the close approach to refine the asteroid's ephemeris, reducing the positional uncertainty, previously determined solely through ground-based observations, from hundreds of kilometers down to the kilometer scale, according to the CNSA.
On its voyage to the asteroid, the probe executed deep-space maneuvers and trajectory correction operations. On June 6, 2026, the probe achieved its first detection of the asteroid. On June 7, at a range of 30,000 kilometers, it entered a coplanar trajectory with the asteroid, while on June 19, it approached the asteroid to within 2,000 kilometers.
Next, the probe will progressively conduct more detailed scientific examinations to acquire data on the asteroid's morphology, material composition, and internal structure, laying the groundwork for subsequent sample collection operations, the CNSA said.
The probe is expected to return asteroid samples to Earth in 2027 with the entire mission to last a decade.
If successful, China will become only the third country in the world to carry out such a feat after Japan and the United States.
The Tianwen-2 mission is the latest example of China's space achievements in recent years. These include returning samples from the near and far sides of the Moon, launching a successful mission to probe Mars, operating its own national space station in orbit, and moving ahead in its plan to send humans to the lunar surface by 2030.
Image Credit: CNSA via Xinhua
Release Date: Jul 5, 2026
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