Tag: Tianwen-2
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China’s Tianwen-2 probe reaches target asteroid, starts scientific exploration
China’s Tianwen-2 probe has successfully arrived at a distance of 20 kilometers from the asteroid 2016HO3, enabling it to begin scientific exploration after an approximately 400-day journey of about 1 billion kilometers, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Monday. China launched its first asteroid sample-return mission, Tianwen-2, on May 29, 2025, aiming to…
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Tianwen-2 Reaches Kamo’oalewa at 20 km After 400-Day Transit
Has China’s Tianwen-2 Reached Asteroid Kamoʻoalewa? Yes — and the first close-up image has already rewritten what planetary scientists thought they knew about it. China’s Tianwen-2 sample return spacecraft arrived at near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3) on July 6, 2026, establishing a 20-kilometer station point after a transit of approximately 1 billion kilometers across…
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China successfully debuts tallest rocket, LandSpace prepares for second landing attempt
China kicked off a busy month with three missions for a single internet constellation in the span of nearly four days. Another maiden launch saw the nation’s tallest rocket successfully reach orbit, though the debut raised eyebrows with the absence of airspace notices ahead of the mission. Similarly, its first asteroid-sampling mission appears to have…
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Surge in static fires as China’s space sector gains momentum
As China’s launch cadence continues to accelerate, so too has the pace of engine testing in recent weeks. A growing number of commercial launch providers are edging closer to the maiden flights of new vehicles — several of which are still on track to debut before the end of the year. Meanwhile, taikonauts aboard the…
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China accelerates toward lunar goals as reusability programs gain momentum
China has conducted two spacewalks from its Tiangong space station in as many months and is advancing on its lunar exploration plans with a successful pad abort test of its crewed Mengzhou capsule. Meanwhile, an experimental spacecraft has made advances in in-space refueling. Meanwhile, the next generation of reusable Chinese commercial rockets, many of which…
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China Conducts Ninth Orbital Launch of May, Deploying Secretive Shijian-26 Satellite
China successfully launched its ninth orbital mission of the month early Thursday, sending the experimental Shijian-26 spacecraft into orbit aboard a Long March 4B rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The rocket lifted off at 12:12 a.m. Eastern (0412 UTC) May 29, with insulation tiles visibly shedding from the payload fairing…
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China Conducts Ninth Orbital Launch of May, Deploying Secretive Shijian-26 Satellite
China successfully launched its ninth orbital mission of the month early Thursday, sending the experimental Shijian-26 spacecraft into orbit aboard a Long March 4B rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The rocket lifted off at 12:12 a.m. Eastern (0412 UTC) May 29, with insulation tiles visibly shedding from the payload fairing…
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China Launches Tianwen-2 Asteroid and Comet Mission to Expand Planetary Science and Defense Capabilities
China launched its second planetary exploration mission last week, sending the Tianwen-2 spacecraft to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid and later study a main belt comet, as Beijing expands its role in international deep-space science and planetary defense efforts. The mission lifted off on a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch…
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China extends its reach into the Solar System with launch of asteroid mission
A Chinese spacecraft built to collect specimens from an unexplored asteroid and return them to Earth successfully launched Wednesday from a military-run spaceport in the country’s mountainous interior. Liftoff aboard a Long March 3B rocket at 1:31 pm EDT (17:31 UTC) from the Xichang launch base kicked off the second mission in a series of…
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China launches the Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission
The Chinese space program is preparing to join the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA in returning samples from an asteroid to Earth. The Tianwen-2 probe and its Chang Zheng 3B/E (CZ-3B/E) rocket launched successfully from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on Wednesday, May 28, at…