Reporters learned from the National Space Administration on July 6 that after a "star chasing" journey of about 400 days and a distance of about 1 billion kilometers, the Tianwen-2 probe recently successfully rendezvoused with the asteroid 2016 HO3 and arrived at a distance of 20 kilometers from the asteroid to begin scientific exploration.
Experts from the mission team said that during the process of approaching the asteroid, the probe obtained image data of the asteroid. At the same time, the mission team used the optical navigation data obtained during the probe's approach to improve the asteroid ephemeris, reducing the asteroid position error previously determined solely by ground-based observations from hundreds of kilometers to the order of kilometers.
On July 2, 2026, the Tianwen-2 probe captured images of the asteroid at a distance of about 20 kilometers from the asteroid 2016 HO3. (Photo courtesy of China National Space Administration)
The probe was successfully launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on May 29, 2025. On the way to the asteroid, missions such as deep space maneuvers and mid-course corrections were carried out.
On June 6, 2026, the probe captured an asteroid for the first time; on June 7, it implemented capture control at a distance of 30,000 kilometers from the asteroid, achieving co-planar flight with the asteroid; on June 19, it arrived at a distance of 2,000 kilometers from the asteroid.
In the future, the detector will gradually carry out more precise scientific detection to obtain information such as the morphology, material composition, and internal structure of the asteroid to provide support for sampling preparations.