Story perspectives

Tianwen-2 Snaps First Close-up of Kamo’oalewa, Samples Return 2027

7/10/2026

Summary

Tianwen-2 Captures Kamo’oalewa

Tianwen-2 captured the first close-up photograph of Earth’s quasi-moon Kamo’oalewa on 2 July 2026 from roughly 12 miles (20 km) away.
The probe traveled about 620 million miles over 400 days after launching from Xichang on 29 May 2025.
Scientists identified Kamo’oalewa as a 40-meter-wide rubble-pile asteroid spinning every 27-30.5 minutes, making its surface unstable.
Tianwen-2 will survey to 300 meters, use sampling methods to collect 20-100 mg, and return samples to Earth in November 2027 before heading to comet 311P/PanSTARRS.

Summary

Tianwen-2 Determines Origin

Tianwen-2 will return samples from Kamo’oalewa to decide if it is lunar debris or an LL-chondrite fragment, using an 11-instrument suite to study chemistry.
A May 2026 Nature Communications paper identified a 1.001-micron absorption band linking the asteroid’s spectrum to LL-chondrites, indicating a main-belt source.
University of Arizona researchers found the spectral signature matches lunar rock, leading Renu Malhotra to favor a lunar source and Patrick Michel to cite a Giordano Bruno crater fragment.

Summary

Tianwen-2 Tests Re-entry

Tianwen-2’s return capsule must survive entry at 12 km/s, hotter than any previous Chinese lunar capsule.
The high-speed test makes the mission a technology demonstrator for future deep-space sample returns.
After Kamo’oalewa, Tianwen-2 will travel to main-belt comet 311P, the first two-target sequence of its kind.
New images show Kamo’oalewa is smaller and irregular, contradicting earlier 30-100 m estimates and prompting calls for in-situ measurements before sampling.

1 of 3

Tianwen-2 Captures Kamo’oalewa

Tianwen-2 captured the first close-up photograph of Earth’s quasi-moon Kamo’oalewa on 2 July 2026 from roughly 12 miles (20 km) away.
The probe traveled about 620 million miles over 400 days after launching from Xichang on 29 May 2025.
Scientists identified Kamo’oalewa as a 40-meter-wide rubble-pile asteroid spinning every 27-30.5 minutes, making its surface unstable.
Tianwen-2 will survey to 300 meters, use sampling methods to collect 20-100 mg, and return samples to Earth in November 2027 before heading to comet 311P/PanSTARRS.

1 / 3