Asteroid Sample-Return Spacecraft
Tianwen-2
Tianwen-2 is currently about 20,339,754 kilometres from Earth, or 0.136 astronomical units, which puts a one-way radio signal 1.1 minutes out. It is 0.899 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
- 20,339,754 km (0.136 AU)
- Distance from the Sun
- 134,562,408 km (0.899 AU)
- One-way signal time
- 1.1 minutes
The mission
- Status
- Operational
- Operator
- CNSA
- Launched
- 2025
- Operating
- Cruising