Overview

• Tianwen-2 lifted off on May 28 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center aboard a Long March 3B rocket, marking China’s first asteroid sample return mission.
• The spacecraft is en route to Kamo’oalewa, a 40- to 100-meter quasi-satellite of Earth with a 28-minute rotation, where it will collect surface material for analysis.
• After a mid-2026 rendezvous followed by a nine-month sampling campaign, Tianwen-2 will return to Earth orbit in 2027 to deploy its sample capsule for retrieval.
• Following sample delivery, the probe will use Earth’s gravity to slingshot toward Comet 311P, with arrival expected by 2035.
• Equipped with eleven scientific instruments—including cameras, spectrometers and a magnetometer—the mission will analyze whether Kamo’oalewa is a lunar fragment or a main-belt remnant and search for water or organic compounds.