Tianwen-2
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Tianwen-2 () is a Chinese asteroid sample return and comet exploration mission that launched on 28 May 2025. The China National Space Agency (CNSA) plans for the probe to return samples from 469219 Kamoʻoalewa—a near-Earth asteroid that is currently a quasi-satellite of Earth—in 2027. After the mothership drops off the sample return vessel to Earth, it is planned to rendezvous with the main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS and explore it with its 11 onboard instruments.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 493 inbound references to Tianwen-2, and connects out to Vesta, China National Space Administration and Tianlian I.
It sits within the topics Earth flybys, May 2025 in China and Missions to comets.
Vinony links it to 20 Wikipedia language editions.
Key facts
- Spaceflight.name
- Tianwen-2天问二号
- Spaceflight.image
- 天问二号发射难度犹如“北京投篮上海进筐”？1.png
- Spaceflight.mission_type
- Asteroid sample returnComet orbiter/lander
- Spaceflight.operator
- CNSA
- Spaceflight.mission_duration
- 10 years (planned) (elapsed)
- Spaceflight.manufacturer
- CAST
- Spaceflight.launch_mass
- ≈
- Spaceflight.launch_date
- 28 May 2025, 17:31 UTC
- Spaceflight.launch_rocket
- Long March 3B
- Spaceflight.launch_site
- Xichang LC-2
- Spaceflight.launch_contractor
- CASC
- Spaceflight.programme
- '''Tianwen program'''
- Spaceflight.previous_mission
- Tianwen-1
- Spaceflight.next_mission
- Tianwen-3
- Spaceflight/IP.type
- orbiter
- Spaceflight/IP.object
- 311P/PanSTARRS
- Spaceflight/IP.arrival_date
- 24 January 2035
- Spaceflight/IP.departure_date
- 24 April 2027
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- sample-return mission
- Country
- China
- Country of origin
- China
- Followed by
- Tianwen-3
- Follows
- Tianwen-1
- Mass
- 2100
- Manufacturer
- China Academy of Space Technology
- Image
- Rendering of Tianwen 2 asteroid mission 03 cropped rotated.png
- Significant event
- beginning
Show 4 more facts
- start point
- Xichang Satellite Launch Center
- space launch vehicle
- Long March 3B
- UTC date of spacecraft launch
- 2025-05-28
- Commons category
- Tianwen-2
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Overview
- History
- Instruments
- Scientific payload
- Mission timeline
- References
- External links
Tianwen-2 () is a Chinese asteroid sample return and comet exploration mission that launched on 28 May 2025. The China National Space Agency (CNSA) plans for the probe to return samples from 469219 Kamoʻoalewa—a near-Earth asteroid that is currently a quasi-satellite of Earth—in 2027. After the mothership drops off the sample return vessel to Earth, it is planned to rendezvous with the main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS and explore it with its 11 onboard instruments.
== Overview == CNSA launched the Tianwen-2 probe using a Long March 3B carrier rocket on 28 May 2025 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. The probe uses solar electric propulsion for maneuvering between its many objectives. It is planned to explore the co-orbital near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and the main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS. The spacecraft will rendezvous with Kamoʻoalewa and conduct remote sensing observations in orbit, before landing on the asteroid to collect a sample of of regolith. Tianwen-2 would carry out investigations at progressively lower altitudes from 20 kilometers, 3 km, 600 meters and down to 300 m from the asteroid’s surface. Explosives will be used to expose potential subsurface volatiles for detection.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tianwen-2” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.