China has released a first picture of its Tianwen 2 mission as the spacecraft heads for a near-Earth asteroid.
Tianwen 2 launched on a Long March 3B rocket on May 28 and is tasked with rendezvousing with and sampling the mysterious asteroid Kamo’oalewa, which is one Earth’s seven known “quasi moons.”
Remarkably, the image is the first actual glimpse of Tianwen 2 released to the public.
Tianwen 2 will not be China’s first deep space encounter with an asteroid.
The country’s Chang’e 2 lunar orbiter made a flyby of the asteroid Toutatis in 2012 as part of an extended mission after mapping the moon.
As the Tianwen 2 mission approaches a near-Earth asteroid, China has unveiled the first image of the spacecraft.
On May 28, Tianwen 2 took off on a Long March 3B rocket with the mission of locating and examining the enigmatic asteroid Kamo’oalewa, one of the seven known “quasi moons” of Earth. And the first official update says the mission is going well.
In a statement released on June 6, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said the spacecraft is more than 3 million kilometers (1.86 million miles) from Earth and is functioning properly.
Additionally, CNSA released a picture of one of Tianwen 2’s two circular solar panels, captured by an engineering camera on board the spacecraft. These panels resemble those on NASA’s Lucy mission, which is traveling to the Trojan asteroids close to Jupiter.
Significantly, the picture is the first public appearance of Tianwen 2. Only artistic renderings had been made public up to this point, and there had been no live broadcast of the mission’s launch.
It is anticipated that Tianwen 2 will arrive at Kamo’oalewa in July 2026 after engine burns to adjust its orbit. Before gathering samples and making its way to Earth, it will spend several months orbiting and examining the asteroid, which scientists believe may be a piece of the moon that was blasted out by a massive impact.
When the samples are delivered in a reentry capsule in late 2027, Tianwen 2 will slingshot the spacecraft using Earth’s gravity to put it on a trajectory to meet main belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS in 2035.
By making a visit to an asteroid and comet, the mission hopes to gather information about the characteristics and makeup of the planetary bodies as well as significant issues like the solar system’s evolution and the origin of water on Earth.
Tianwen 2 won’t be China’s first experience with an asteroid in deep space. In 2012, as part of a longer mission, the nation’s Chang’e 2 lunar orbiter flew past the asteroid Toutatis after mapping the moon.
The Chang’e 5 mission, which captured material from the moon’s near side in 2020, and Chang’e 6, which took the first-ever samples from the lunar far side in 2024, give China additional experience with sample returns.
