Tianwen-2 spacecraft travelled about 1 billion kilometres and approached asteroid
Space has always beckoned humanity with its boundlessness and mystery. Every new spacecraft sent to distant worlds is not just an engineering achievement but a step towards understanding our place in the Universe. Asteroids, as ancient witnesses to the formation of the Solar System, hold secrets of the origins of planets and life. Approaching them is a dialogue with deep antiquity, where technology becomes an interpreter of the language of rocks and dust flying across billions of kilometres.
On Monday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) reported that the Tianwen‑2 spacecraft successfully approached asteroid 2016HO3 to a distance of 20 kilometres, allowing it to begin scientific research after roughly 400 days of travel covering about 1 billion kilometres. China launched its first asteroid sample‑return mission on 29 May 2025, aiming to achieve multiple goals over a decade‑long expedition: collect samples from near‑Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and explore main‑belt comet 311P, which lies beyond Mars. During the approach, the spacecraft captured images of the asteroid. The mission team used optical navigation data gathered during the approach to refine the asteroid's ephemeris, reducing position uncertainty from hundreds of kilometres down to a kilometre scale.
During its journey, the spacecraft performed deep‑space manoeuvres and trajectory corrections. On 6 June 2026, it first detected the asteroid; on 7 June, from 30,000 kilometres away, it entered a matching trajectory; and on 19 June, it closed to 2,000 kilometres. The spacecraft will now conduct increasingly detailed studies of the asteroid's morphology, composition and internal structure, laying the groundwork for sample collection.
Asteroid 2016HO3 is a quasi‑satellite of Earth, a small body about 40–100 metres in diameter that moves in a complex orbit and remains near our planet. The Tianwen‑2 mission continues China's successful series of deep‑space projects following Tianwen‑1 (Mars) and Chang'e‑5 (the Moon). As CCTV+ reports. Scientific data from the spacecraft will help clarify the origins of near‑Earth asteroids and their potential threat to Earth.
