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China's Tianwen-2 Spacecraft Scheduled to Reach Asteroid Kamoʻoalewa in Early July
Forbes reported that the Tianwen-2 probe will arrive at the 130- to 330-foot quasi-satellite next month. The mission will collect samples before continuing to a main-belt comet around 2035.
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China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa in early July, Forbes reported. The probe, launched on May 28, 2025, is China's first asteroid sample-return mission. Kamoʻoalewa, also known as 2016 HO3, was discovered in 2016 and measures between 130 and 330 feet across.
It is one of only a handful of known quasi-satellites that orbit the Sun in a 1:1 resonance with Earth. After arrival, Tianwen-2 will spend several months conducting remote sensing observations and mapping the asteroid to identify sampling sites. The spacecraft will collect between 20 and 100 grams of material using touch-and-go maneuvers and an anchoring system equipped with drills.
Tianwen-2 is scheduled to depart Kamoʻoalewa in April 2027. A sample capsule is set to land on Earth in November 2027. After releasing the capsule, the spacecraft will redirect toward main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS, which NASA's Hubble Space Telescope imaged in 2013.
Tianwen-2 is expected to arrive there around 2035. Research published in 2025 by Spherical Insights & Consulting projected that the global space and asteroid mining market could reach $16 billion by 2035.
