Konstantin Sukharnikov Scientific instrumentation

A hobby. An independent overview compiled from public sources by a science and space enthusiast. I am not involved in these missions or facilities; my own work is detector electronics at European XFEL. My projects →

Mission · Asteroids & comets

Tianwen-2

Asteroid sample return, then a comet mission

Status
At target
Launched
29 May 2025
Target
Earth quasi-satellite (469219) Kamoʻoalewa, then comet 311P/PanSTARRS
Agencies
CNSA
Next
2026–2027 site selection and sampling; departure ≈ April 2027

Summary

China's first asteroid mission: collect samples from Kamoʻoalewa, a small quasi-satellite of Earth (possibly a fragment of the Moon), return the capsule to Earth, and then fly on to the main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS.

Now as of 3 Nov 2026

The spacecraft is at the asteroid, imaging it and choosing a sampling site. The asteroid spins once in about 28 minutes, which makes touching down harder. Two sampling methods will be tried: touch-and-go and anchor-and-attach. At the time of checking there were no official reports of sampling.

Key dates

  1. 29 May 2025Launch (Long March 3B, Xichang)done
  2. Jun–Jul 2026Arrival at Kamoʻoalewa (Planetary Society: 7 June; CNSA announced on 6 July, within 20 km)done
  3. Jul 2026 – Apr 2027Imaging, site selection, samplingongoing
  4. Apr 2027Departure from the asteroid (plan)planned
  5. Nov 2027Capsule lands in the Gobi desert (plan; some estimates say late 2027)planned
  6. ≈ 2035Arrival at comet 311Pplanned

Timeline

  1. 6 Jul 2026CNSA: spacecraft within 20 km, science programme started — Astronomy.com, Sky & Telescope
  2. 24 Jun 2026Planetary Society: indirect evidence suggests arrival on 7 June — Planetary Society