The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has published several images taken by the Tianwen-2 mission. They show Earth and the Moon.
The Tianwen-2 spacecraft was launched on May 29, 2029. Its main target is a quasi-satellite of Earth called Kamo`oalewa. It is in a 1:1 orbital resonance with our planet, which allows it to remain close to it for many orbital periods. Many researchers suggest that Kamo`oalewa is actually a fragment knocked off the surface of the Moon after a powerful collision.
The Tianwen-2 flight plan envisages that in 2026, the spacecraft will enter orbit around Kamo`oalewa and spend a year studying the asteroid. The mission will culminate in the collection of soil samples. After that, the spacecraft will begin its return course to Earth and drop the capsule containing the samples. This is expected to happen in 2028. After that, Tianwen-2 will head to the asteroid belt to another curious object — the active asteroid 311P/PanSTARRS, which has formed comet-like tails several times.
Shortly after launch, CNSA published a photograph showing one of the spacecraft’s deployed solar panels. Now, the organization has shared new images from Tianwen-2. They show Earth and the Moon.
Both images were taken on May 29, when the spacecraft was 590,000 km away from our planet. The images were taken by the spacecraft’s narrow-angle navigation camera through red, blue, and green filters and then combined into a color image. In the photograph of Earth, you can see the outlines of Australia and Asia.
According to a statement by the CNSA, Tianwen-2 is in good technical condition and all its systems are functioning normally. The spacecraft is currently 12 million km from Earth.
According to CNSA
