Published on: 2026-07-06
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
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Beijing, July 6 /Xinhua/ — The Chinese probe “Tianwen-2” successfully approached to a distance of 20 km from the asteroid 2016HO3, allowing it to begin scientific research after approximately a 400-day journey covering about 1 billion km, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) reported on Monday.
On May 29, 2025, China launched its first asteroid sample collection mission using the Tianwen-2 probe, aimed at achieving several objectives during a decade-long expedition: collecting samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and studying comet 311P in the main belt, which is beyond Mars.
During the approach phase, the probe received an image of the asteroid. The mission team used optical navigation data collected during the approach to refine the asteroid’s ephemerides, reducing the location uncertainty, which was previously determined solely by ground observations, from a scale of hundreds of kilometers to a kilometer scale, CNSA reported.
During its approach to the asteroid, the probe performed maneuvers in open space and trajectory correction operations. On June 6, 2026, the probe detected the asteroid for the first time. On June 7, at a distance of 30,000 km, it entered a coplanar trajectory with the asteroid, and on June 19, it approached to within 2,000 km of the asteroid.
Next, the probe will gradually carry out more detailed scientific studies to obtain data on the morphology, material composition, and internal structure of the asteroid, laying the foundation for subsequent sample collection operations, CNSA reported.
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