On the 6th, China Central Television (CCTV) quoted news from the China National Space Administration, reporting that China’s independently developed asteroid probe, “Tianwen-2”, after around 400 days and a journey of approximately 1 billion kilometers, recently made a successful rendezvous with asteroid “2016 HO3”, arriving at a distance of 20 kilometers from the asteroid and beginning scientific exploration.
“2016 HO3” is a “quasi-satellite” of Earth with a diameter of about 40 to 100 meters. It orbits the Sun, but remains in a unique orbital resonance with Earth for an extended period, making it one of the most stable known Earth quasi-satellites. The successful implementation of the Tianwen-2 mission marks another major milestone for China in planetary exploration, following previous Chang’e lunar and Tianwen Mars missions.
According to experts from the mission team, during the close approach to the asteroid, the probe obtained image data of the asteroid. At the same time, the team used optical navigation data collected by the probe during its approach to refine the asteroid’s ephemeris, reducing the positional error of the asteroid from more than a hundred kilometers, as previously determined by ground-based observation alone, to the kilometer scale.
According to reports, the Tianwen-2 probe was successfully launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on May 29 last year. On its way to the asteroid, it carried out deep space maneuvers and mid-course corrections.
On June 6 this year, Tianwen-2 probe captured its first images of the asteroid; on June 7, at a distance of 30,000 kilometers from the asteroid, it carried out capture control, achieving co-orbital flight with the asteroid; and on June 19, it arrived at a distance of 20 kilometers from the asteroid.
The report also mentions that, going forward, the Tianwen-2 probe will gradually carry out more detailed scientific exploration to obtain information such as the asteroid’s morphology, material composition, and internal structure.