Tianwen-2 Snaps Photos of the Earth & Moon
It's a long way to Kamoʻoalewa.
The Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission launched just over one month ago, and earlier today, July 1st, the China National Space Administration shared two images captured by the spacecraft’s Asteroid Narrow Angle Camera. Those images (attached above and below) were of the Earth and Moon, seen from a distance of 590,000 kilometers.
At present, Tianwen-2 is some 12 million kilometers away from Earth and healthy as it undergoes its long journey out to its target in deep space. The spacecraft is en route to asteroid 2016HO3/469219 Kamoʻoalewa, with a planned arrival in the summer of 2026, where it will gather between 200 and 1,000 grams of samples. Around 2029, those samples will be returned to Earth during a flyby.
The new images follow the first one shared from the mission in early June, of the spacecraft's circular solar panel fully unfurled. Further images are likely to come from Tianwen-2 in the future, as the mission is said to be housing deployable cameras that will image the whole spacecraft from a third-person perspective (like those taken during the Tianwen-1 mission).
Future images from the spacecraft align with some theories shared shortly before the mission began, as no photos of the spacecraft on Earth were shared. One such that is now likely the mission publicity plan will be to spread out publicly released materials over the mission’s 10-year timeline to help sustain public engagement throughout Tianwen-2’s journey.
Tianwen-2 is currently expected to be exploring well into the 2030s, as its extended mission is to asteroid 311P/PanSTARRS out in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft is planned to thoroughly study 311P whilst doubling as a test of China’s deep space communications infrastructure ahead of the Tianwen-4 mission to Jupiter.