Asteroid Sample-Return Spacecraft
Tianwen-2
Tianwen-2 is currently about 34,576,231 kilometres from Earth, or 0.231 astronomical units, which puts a one-way radio signal 1.9 minutes out. It is 0.924 astronomical units from the Sun.
China’s first asteroid sample-return mission, station-keeping twenty kilometres off Kamoʻoalewa, a quasi-satellite of Earth that may be a piece of the Moon knocked loose by an impact. It arrived in July 2026 after a year of cruise.
Surveying for a sampling site, with collection due by April 2027 and the capsule released at Earth that November.
Right now
- Distance from Earth
- 34,576,231 km (0.231 AU)
- Distance from the Sun
- 138,179,215 km (0.924 AU)
- One-way signal time
- 1.9 minutes
The mission
- Status
- Operational
- Operator
- CNSA
- Launched
- 2025
- Operating
- Cruising