China's Tianwen-2 Probe Set to Land on Asteroid Kamoʻoalewa on July 4

Tianwen-2 Mission and the Study of Asteroid Kamoʻoalewa

According to НВ — Техно: On June 18, 2025, details emerged about China's Tianwen-2 mission, which has been dispatched to investigate asteroid Kamoʻoalewa. The probe, which entered orbit on June 7, is scheduled to touch down on the asteroid on July 4. The primary objective of this mission is to collect roughly 100 grams of regolith, providing scientists with fresh insights into this celestial body.

Asteroid Characteristics

Kamoʻoalewa measures between 40 and 100 meters in length and orbits the Sun in sync with Earth, staying at a distance of approximately 4.6 million kilometers. The probe will map the asteroid's surface from altitudes ranging from 300 meters to 20 kilometers. Researchers hypothesize that Kamoʻoalewa could be a fragment of the Moon, possibly ejected during a meteorite impact that created the 22-kilometer-wide Giordano Bruno crater.

The mission launched in May 2025, with the sample return capsule expected to come back to Earth in November 2027. During atmospheric reentry, the capsule will reach a speed of 43,500 km/h. In 2035, the probe will also head out to study object 311P/PanSTARRS, highlighting the long-term ambitions of Chinese space scientists.

This mission represents a significant milestone for China's expanding space program, which is actively pushing the boundaries of planetary exploration. The collected regolith samples could yield valuable data not only about the asteroid itself but also about the evolution of the solar system. Studying such objects helps deepen our understanding of Earth's and other planets' origins, and may hold practical implications for future space resource extraction missions.