Tootfinder

It looks like China's #Tianwen2 will reach asteroid (469219) today to begins its sample return mission - this follows from radio tracking by amateurs in Dwingeloo and Bochum: https://bsky.app/profile/radiotelescoop.bsky.social/post/3mn5aqlk3222l and https://x.com/amsatdl/status/2061787339936973154. And radio hams are also decoding the telemetry: https://destevez.net/2026/05/an-update-about-tianwen-2-telemetry/. While the paper "Tianwen-2 mission target asteroid (469219) Kamoʻoalewa probably develops an Itokawa-compositional but more space-weathered surface" - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73284-w - calls the proposed origin of the asteroid from the Moon into question.

The steady-state population of Earth ’s co-orbitals of lunar provenance (related to the #Tianwen2 target asteroid): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103526001752 -> Is Earth’s Constant Companion a Stray Asteroid or a Chunk of the Moon? https://www.universetoday.com/articles/is-earths-constant-companion-a-stray-asteroid-or-a-chunk-of-the-moon

Dynamical Origin of (469219) Kamo‘oalewa of Tianwen-2 Mission from the Main Belt - ν6 Secular Resonance, Flora Family or 3:1 Resonance with Jupiter: #Tianwen2 Mission: http://english.pmo.cas.cn/newsroom/news/202603/t20260317_1152750.html and https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202603/17/WS69b8af2da310d6866eb3e309.html