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China’s Tianwen-2 Spacecraft Reaches Earth’s Quasi-Moon after One Billion-Kilometer Journey


On July 2, 2026, the Tianwen-2 probe closed to within 20 km (12.4 miles) of the small near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3, one of only seven Earth quasi-satellites identified to date, kicking off a science campaign ahead of an eventual sample-return attempt.

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