Category: Asia World

Did you know Earth has a ‘minimoon’? It’s known as asteroid 2016HO3, or Kamoʻoalewa.

A probe sent for the China National Space Administration (CNSA) mission, Tianwen-2, has just returned its first picture of the quasi-satellite, named after a Hawaiian chant for an oscillating object in the sky.

The probe is CNSA’s first asteroid sample-return mission, which launched on 29 May 2025 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

Now, after 13 months of travel across around 1 billion kilometers (around six hundred million miles) of space, Tianwen-2 has arrived at its primary destination, the agency says.

Since July 2, the probe has been hanging out about 20 kilometers from Kamoʻoalewa, from which it snapped this portrait of the ‘minimoon’.

Kamoʻoalewa is too distant to be considered a bona fide Earth satellite, and its main orbit is around the Sun. But since it skirts our planet in an elliptical orbit every 45 years, it qualifies for rare ‘quasi-satellite’ status – just one of seven known to orbit Earth.

It’s a member of the asteroid class known as the Apollo asteroids, which more or less share Earth’s orbit around the Sun. However, as a quasi-satellite, Kamoʻoalewa remains near Earth across long periods and multiple orbits.

What we already know about Kamoʻoalewa is scant, based on observations from a distance. It’s approximately 40 to 100 meters in diameter, which means it may turn out to be the smallest asteroid ever visited by human spacecraft.

After its long journey from Earth, Tianwen-2 made its first optical detection of Kamoʻoalewa on June 6, and by June 19, it had approached to within 2,000 km.

By July 2, it was just 20 km away from the asteroid: close enough to capture the image above.

As part of its mission, Tianwen-2 will conduct in-orbit observations of the rock, and collect samples to bring back to Earth, as described in a paper published in Space Science Reviews back in January.

“Among the known near-Earth asteroids, 2016HO3 is an exceptionally rare Earth co-orbital object,” physicist Rongqiao Zhang, of the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center in Beijing, and his colleagues, explained in a research article in January.

“As an Earth quasi-satellite, its orbital period is close to that of Earth, enabling low energy transfer, and it maintains a stable distance of about 0.1–0.3 AU from Earth, providing favorable conditions for tracking, control, and communication.”

Scientists want to know if it’s a pile of rubble or a monolithic body; whether there are traces of water, and what else it’s made of; how its orbit evolved; and whether solar wind has anything to do with it.

The researchers noted that its unusual orbit, enigmatic origin, and unresolved questions about its physical properties “make it a compelling candidate for addressing fundamental questions about the origins of Earth’s quasi-satellites and the dynamical evolution of their orbits”.

The samples it sends back to Earth will help confirm whether Kamoʻoalewa is indeed a bit of Moon, as scientists have deduced from telescope observations.

After this roughly nine-month stop at Kamoʻoalewa, Tianwen-2 will continue on to main-belt comet 311P, which is past Mars. But not before dropping off its capsule of samples from the quasi-moon during an Earth flyby.

311P stands out for its bizarre, six-pronged dust tail, and we’re still not really sure of its shape, so researchers are keen to investigate these questions up close.

The comet also happens to coincide with the trajectory of Tianwen-2’s return mission, so it’s a convenient target for a main-belt flyby.

It’s a big mission for tiny objects, and we can’t wait to see what they discover.

The storms affected Huangshi, Huanggang, Ezhou, and Xianning between 19:00 and 23:00 LT on July 6 (11:00–15:00 UTC), with two townships recording level-13 gales.

The severe weather affected about 14 600 people, destroyed 22 buildings, and damaged another 4 855. Authorities said 246 residents were relocated, while rescue, relief, and secondary-disaster prevention work continued.

Huanggang remained one of the hardest-hit areas. Xinhua reported that a rare EF2 tornado struck the city, heavily damaging a logistics company and a warehouse. Multiple trucks were lifted and displaced by winds by as much as 30 m (98 feet).

By Reet Kaur
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 10:12 UTC

A rare tornado struck the urban area of Huanggang, Hubei Province, between 20:10–20:30 LT on July 6, 2026, causing widespread destruction across residential neighborhoods, industrial facilities, and logistics parks. Huanggang’s on-site command headquarters said the tornado produced winds exceeding Force 15 on the Chinese wind scale during what it described as a historically rare event for the city. Preliminary numbers mention up to 12 fatalities and hundreds injured.

The tornado tore through major and secondary roads, residential communities, factory complexes, and logistics facilities across Huangzhou District.

The southern section of Baota Avenue, the Qicheng Logistics Company, and the first phase of the Changjiang Community warehouse project sustained some of the heaviest damage. Several heavy trucks were lifted and displaced by as much as 30 m (98 feet), illustrating the intensity of the winds.

As of 06:00 LT on July 7, authorities said the tornado had affected 5 975 people and damaged more than 1 000 mu of farmland, equivalent to about 67 ha (166 acres). Designated hospitals admitted 178 injured people, including five in critical condition.

Casualty figures circulating on social media varied during the overnight rescue effort, with some posts claiming between nine and 12 deaths before authorities completed their preliminary assessment. Huanggang’s on-site command headquarters later reported four fatalities, one missing person, and 178 hospitalized injuries as of 06:00 LT on July 7.

Emergency officials also reported that 111 people carried out precautionary evacuations, while another 269 residents were relocated to temporary shelters.

Huanggang activated its emergency response immediately after the tornado struck, deploying more than 3 000 rescue personnel overnight. The city’s Emergency Management Bureau sent more than 250 rescuers, together with three large emergency lighting vehicles and five emergency rescue vehicles, to the disaster area.

Huanggang Fire and Rescue deployed 24 fire engines, 169 firefighters, and four search dogs to conduct citywide search-and-rescue operations. The Hubei Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps reinforced the response with another 30 rescue vehicles, 143 firefighters, five search dogs, and 20 members of the Blue Sky Rescue Team. An additional 980 provincial firefighters equipped with full rescue equipment were also dispatched to Huanggang.

Police deployed 1 080 officers to maintain public order, direct traffic and inspect hazardous areas, while 250 urban management personnel cleared debris from roads and public spaces.

Around 200 power utility workers carried out emergency repairs to the electricity network. Emergency management authorities distributed more than 3 000 relief items, and financial authorities allocated dedicated disaster-relief funding to support emergency shelter operations and reconstruction.

Officials said electricity, water supply, natural gas, telecommunications, and most transportation services had largely been restored by around 10:00 LT on July 7, although recovery operations continued in the hardest-hit parts of Huangzhou District.

Numerous videos shared online captured the tornado approaching Huanggang’s city center from several locations. One widely circulated video was reportedly recorded by a resident who was later injured, although officials have not released information confirming the circumstances.

Other footage showed severe destruction around industrial sites and construction areas, with homes reduced to rubble, steel beams thrown long distances, and heavy trucks overturned or mangled. Separate videos circulating online also showed significant tornado damage near Daye in Hubei Province, where several brick homes appeared to have lost upper floors, and vehicles were reportedly thrown considerable distances.

The event drew considerable attention across the online weather community. Some social media users compared the Huanggang tornado to the EF4 tornado that struck Rowlett, Texas, in December 2015 because of its apparent size, urban setting, and the displacement of heavy vehicles.

Others noted similarities between videos showing illuminated rotating debris within the circulation and footage recorded during the 2023 Rolling Fork, Mississippi EF4 tornado. Those comparisons remain opinions expressed by weather enthusiasts and storm observers and are not part of any official damage assessment.

China’s water crisis is nothing new, but it’s gotten worse – and is now on the ‘brink of catastrophe‘ and could trigger a global catastrophe, according to Foreign Affairs.

 

 

Given the country’s overriding importance to the global economy, potential water-driven disruptions beginning in China would rapidly reverberate through food, energy, and materials markets around the world and create economic and political turbulence for years to come. -Foreign Affairs

For starters, there’s no substitute for water – which is essential for food production, electricity generation and sustaining all life on earth.

In China, which consumes ten billion barrels of water per day (approximately 700x its daily oil consumption), decades of economic and population growth have pushed northern China’s water system to unsustainable levels.

According to the report, the per-capita water supply around the North China Plain at the end of 2020 was nearly 50% below the UN’s definition of acute water scarcity at 253 cubic meters. Other major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, are at similar (or lower) levels. 

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