China's Tianwen-2 Returns First Close-Up of Asteroid Kamoʻoalewa After 400-Day Journey
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China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft photographed asteroid Kamoʻoalewa from about 20 kilometres away on 2 July 2026. The China National Space Administration released the image on 6 July, showing an elongated grey object with a 10-metre scale bar. The close-up is the first of a body previously recorded only as a moving point of light.
Key Facts
- Tianwen-2 travelled roughly one billion kilometres over 400 days before reaching asteroid Kamoʻoalewa.
- The spacecraft photographed Kamoʻoalewa from about 20 kilometres away on 2 July 2026, and CNSA released the image on 6 July.
- Kamoʻoalewa may be only 20 metres wide, and its position before arrival carried an uncertainty of hundreds of kilometres.
- The mission launched on 29 May 2025 aboard a Long March 3B rocket and first detected the asteroid on 6 June 2026.
- The James Webb Space Telescope observed Kamoʻoalewa with NIRSpec in February 2026.
The Approach
Tianwen-2 launched on 29 May 2025 aboard a Long March 3B rocket. CNSA says the probe made deep-space and mid-course corrections before first detecting the asteroid on 6 June 2026. On 7 June, from about 30,000 kilometres away, it performed capture control and entered coplanar flight. By 19 June it was 2,000 kilometres away. Optical navigation during the approach reduced the position uncertainty from hundreds of kilometres to the kilometre scale.
The Image
On 2 July 2026, Tianwen-2 photographed Kamoʻoalewa from about 20 kilometres away. The China National Space Administration released the image on 6 July, showing an elongated grey object against black space with a 10-metre scale bar. It was the first close view of a body that telescopes had previously recorded as little more than a moving point of light. Early estimates often put Kamoʻoalewa somewhere between 40 and 100 metres across. In February 2026, the James Webb Space Telescope observed Kamoʻoalewa with NIRSpec.
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China's Tianwen-2 Returns First Close-Up of Asteroid Kamoʻoalewa After 400-Day Journey
