China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft arrives at asteroid following 1 billion km trip
On Monday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed that its Tianwen-2 probe has reached a distance of 20 km from asteroid 2016HO3, completing a 1 billion km journey that spanned 400 days. The agency noted that the spacecraft has already captured photos of the asteroid and is set to start analyzing its internal makeup, material composition, and gathering samples. This mission, which marks China's inaugural attempt to return samples from an asteroid, was originally launched in May 2025.
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