China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has successfully captured the first close-up imagery of Kamo’oalewa, a near-Earth object classified as a “quasi-moon.” The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed the probe is now orbiting the asteroid, which circles the sun in tandem with Earth.
The images, taken from a distance of approximately 12.5 miles (20 km), reveal the asteroid to be roughly 130 feet (40 meters) in diameter. Initial observations suggest Kamo’oalewa is a “rubble-pile” asteroid—a loosely bound collection of material with an unstable, fragmented surface. This discovery poses significant technical challenges for the mission, as CNSA officials noted that the lack of flat, stable terrain makes traditional landing and drilling techniques unlikely to succeed.
The mission, which launched in May 2025, aims to collect samples and return them to Earth by November 2027. Researchers believe these samples could provide critical data on the early solar system and help confirm long-standing theories that Kamo’oalewa may be a fragment of Earth’s moon dislodged by an ancient impact. Despite the mission’s complexity, the CNSA plans to continue detailed scientific exploration to map the asteroid’s morphology before attempting sample collection.