hayabusa2 mission parts brands

Hayabusa2 is a Japanese spacecraft that studied asteroid Ryugu, collected samples, and brought them to Earth for analysis. The spacecraft is on an extended mission to asteroid 1998 KY26.

Hayabusa2 is a Japanese spacecraft that explored asteroid Ryugu (162173) from June 2018 to November 2019. It dispatched a series of landers and a penetrator, and it collected multiple samples from the asteroid.

JAXA launched Hayabusa2 in December 2014 to collect samples from Ryugu. After arriving at the asteroid in June 2018, Hayabusa2 deployed two rovers and a small lander on the surface. Then, on Feb. 22, 2019, Hayabusa2 fired an impactor into the asteroid to create an artificial crater. This allowed the spacecraft to retrieve a sample beneath Ryugu’s surface.

This movie was taken on Feb. 22, 2019, (JST) when Hayabusa2 first touched down on asteroid Ryugu to collect a sample from the surface. It was captured using the onboard small monitor camera (CAM-H). The video playback speed is five times faster than the actual time. Credit: JAXA

On Dec. 6, 2020, Hayabusa2 delivered the asteroid sample to Earth. The spacecraft swooped by Earth to drop a landing capsule containing the asteroid sample. The capsule made a fiery entry through our planet’s atmosphere and parachuted to a soft landing inside the Woomera Range Complex in the South Australian outback. The spacecraft is now on an extended mission to a smaller asteroid, called 1998 KY26.

Both missions explored carbonaceous asteroids, which are thought to be the rocky building blocks of the early solar system. These asteroids could help scientists better understand how the solar system formed, and how life later emerged.

On Nov. 30, 2021, NASA received 23 millimeter-sized grains and 4 containers of even finer material from Ryugu – 10% of the total collected by Hayabusa2. A JAXA official and a JAXA scientist delivered the asteroid fragments to the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Hayabusa2 is a follow-up to Japan’s original Hayabusa mission, which was the first spacecraft to take samples from an asteroid, and was also the first mission to successfully land and take off from an asteroid. It returned samples from asteroid 25143 Itokawa to Earth on June 13, 2010.

On 3 December 2014, the Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 embarked on a sample return mission to the C-type asteroid (162173) Ryugu (formerly designated 1999 JU3). It is operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and carried the MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout) lander built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in collaboration with the French Space Agency (CNES) and the Japanese space agency (JAXA). Hayabusa2 is the immediate follow-on mission of the Hayabusa mission, which saw the first probe return to Earth with samples taken from asteroid Itokawa in June 2010. At that time, the DLR Institute of Planetary Research also investigated the rare particles.

The aim of the Hayabusa2 mission is to learn more about the origin and evolution of the Solar System. Like comets, asteroids are some of the most primordial celestial bodies. Researching asteroids gives us a glimpse into our cosmic past. Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), such as Ryugu, also pose a potential threat to Earth and therefore need to be investigated to learn about and reduce their threat.

Hayabusa2 and MASCOT worked together as a team: Hayabusa2 provided the necessary data so that a suitable landing place could be found for MASCOT, whereas MASCOT carried out experiments on the asteroid"s surface and provided data on materials and the surrounding area to find a location to gather soil samples. For this, Hayabusa2 will lightly touch the asteroid"s surface in order to gather material, which it will then bring back to Earth.

The low gravitational force of the asteroid, which amounts to just one 60,000th of the gravitational force on Earth, presented a challenge for the mission. This force is insufficient to "pull" the lander out of the Hayabusa probe. As such, MASCOT was pushed out of its holder by a spring mechanism and fell to Ryugu from a height of approximately 60 metres. Had this happened too quickly, then MASCOT could have bounced off the asteroid"s surface. The lander"s "hopping" on the asteroid from site to site was programmed from start to finish so that it did not reach escape velocity. The escape velocity from Ryugu is calculated to be 38 centimetres per second. By way of comparison, the escape velocity from Earth is 11.2 kilometres per second, and that from the Moon is 2.3 kilometres per second.

The duo reached Ryugu on 27 June 2018. On 3 October 2018 at 03:58 (CEST) MASCOT separated from the Japanese Hayabusa2 spacecraft, and landed and made contact wit Ryugu approximately 20 minutes later. MASCOT was operational for over 17 hours, during which it collected data from the asteroid"s surface. Hayabusa2 will return samples to Earth in 2020.

CNES contributed the power subsystem to MASCOT, as well as a part of the telecommunications system, which included the development of antennas, and the agency will assume responsibility for the descent and landing mission analyses.

TOKYO (AP) — A small capsule containing asteroid soil samples that was dropped from 136,700 miles (220,000 kilometers) in space by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft landed as planned in the Australian Outback on Sunday. After a preliminary inspection, it will be flown to Japan for research. The extremely high precision required to carry out the mission thrilled many in Japan, who said they took pride in its success. The project’s manager, Yuichi Tsuda of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, called the capsule a “treasure box.” The AP explains the significance of the project and what comes next.

Launched on Dec. 3, 2014, the unmanned Hayabusa2 spacecraft touched down twice on the asteroid Ryugu, more than 300 million kilometers (190 million miles) away from Earth. The asteroid’s extremely rocky surface forced the mission’s team to revise landing plans, but the spacecraft successfully collected data and soil samples during the 1½ years it spent near Ryugu after arriving there in June 2018.

In its first touchdown in February 2019, the spacecraft collected surface dust samples, similar to NASA’s recent touch-and-go grab by Osiris REx on the asteroid Bennu. Hayabusa2 later blasted a crater into the asteroid’s surface and then collected underground samples from the asteroid, a first for space history. In late 2019, Hayabusa2 left Ryugu. That yearlong journey ended Sunday.

After about a year, some of the samples will be shared with NASA and other international scientists. About 40% of them will be stored for future research. JAXA mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa said just 0.1 gram of the sample can be enough to conduct the planned research, though he said more would be better.

Hayabusa2 is a successor of the original Hayabusa mission that Japan launched in 2003. After a series of technical setbacks, it sent back samples from another asteroid, Itokawa, in 2010. The spacecraft was burned up in a failed re-entry but the capsule made it to Earth.

Many Japanese were impressed by the first Hayabusa spaceship’s return, which was considered a miracle given all the troubles it encountered. JAXA’s subsequent Venus and Mars missions also were flawed. Tsuda said the Hayabusa2 team used all the hard lessons learned from the earlier missions to accomplish a 100 times better than “perfect” outcome. Some members of the public who watched the event shed tears as the capsule successfully entered the atmosphere, briefly flaring into a fireball.

About an hour after separating from the capsule at 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) from Earth, Hayabusa2 was sent on another mission to the smaller asteroid, 1998KY26. That is an 11-year journey one-way. The mission is to study possible ways to prevent big meteorites from colliding with Earth.

Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe is on track to arrive at a kilometer-wide asteroid called Ryugu on June 27. On August 17 a nasa craft, OSIRIS-REx, is scheduled to arrive within sight of a roughly 500-meter-wide asteroid called Bennu. These space rocks will be the focus of approximately two years of sensor surveys and efforts to collect samples for scientists back on Earth to analyze.

“There are going to be so many groups around the world that are going to be able to study the samples for decades to come,” says Nancy Chabot, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who is not affiliated with either mission. The new data, she says, are “really going to revolutionize what we understand about the composition and the makeup of these primitive bodies from the early solar system.” Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx will not be the first missions to retrieve an asteroid sample. That honor went to Japan’s first Hayabusa spacecraft, which in 2010 returned to Earth with a tiny sample from the asteroid Itokawa after an unplanned crash on its surface. Itokawa is representative of so-called S-type asteroids, which consist primarily of stony materials.

In contrast, Ryugu and Bennu fall into the carbonaceous (C-type), or carbon-containing, class of asteroids—the most common space rocks in the solar system. Taken together, samples delivered by OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 could confirm that these asteroids have a composition similar to those of “carbonaceous chondrite” meteorites discovered on Earth. Such meteorites contain organic compounds, in addition to water locked inside hydrated minerals. But these meteorites may have been contaminated by Earth’s surface. If the composition of the asteroids matches that of the meteorites, it would suggest the compounds could have been brought here from space.

Carbonaceous meteorites “very well may have been, at least in part, the source of water on Earth and the compounds that lead to life,” according to a joint statement by Harold Connolly, a co-investigator and mission sample scientist for OSIRIS-REx, and Shogo Tachibana, a mission sample scientist for Hayabusa2. This hypothesis could be reinforced by bringing back the first pristine samples from carbonaceous asteroids.

Launching two very similar missions may seem redundant—but it could be informative, Chabot explains. “If the samples [from both asteroids] turn out to be identical, that would be telling us something very fundamental about how homogeneous materials were in the solar system,” she says. “But my money is on the samples showing us some surprising differences.”

The two missions also have distinct operational phases. Beyond surveys and collecting samples, Hayabusa2 will attempt to place up to three robotic rovers and a European-built MASCOT lander on Ryugu to explore its surface. The Japanese mission also plans to fire a two-kilogram copper projectile at the asteroid; in this way, scientists hope to create a crater that would reveal its internal composition.

The first Hayabusa mission brought back less than a milligram of asteroid dust from its historic and harrowing journey. The new missions could retrieve a far larger haul of pristine space rock, making it easier for researchers to share and analyze samples.

Hayabusa2 aims to collect three samples from different locations on Ryugu, netting approximately 100 milligrams. OSIRIS-REx will attempt to collect up to two kilograms from a single spot on Bennu’s surface. Scientists from both missions plan to exchange samples and cooperate closely throughout: Connolly even works on both OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2.

These missions may also provide valuable information for asteroid-mining operations, Chabot says. She serves as a scientific adviser for Planetary Resources, an aspiring asteroid-mining company based in Redmond, Wash. It is one of several firms hoping to eventually harvest minerals from space rocks, as well as water, which they could convert into rocket fuel to power future missions in the distant solar system.

Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx are not scheduled to return to Earth until 2020 and 2023, respectively, but the payoff will almost certainly be worth the wait. Many labs are still squeezing new science out of the Apollo lunar samples decades later, as improving techniques and instruments allow investigators to reanalyze old specimens.

The spacecraft in possession of this newly acquired asteroid material is Hayabusa-2, operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It’s the successor to JAXA’s original Hayabusa mission, which was the first to return samples of an asteroid to Earth in 2010. Launched in 2014, Hayabusa-2 traveled through space for three and a half years, arriving at an asteroid named Ryugu in June 2018. Ever since then, Hayabusa-2 has been hanging around Ryugu, analyzing its surface and practicing for today’s big sample grab.

Now, Hayabusa-2 will hold onto that material until it leaves Ryugu and returns to Earth. And when these samples arrive at our planet, they could tell us a bit more about what our cosmic neighborhood was like billions of years ago. “From a scientific perspective, it’s going back to the dawn of the solar system,” Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for NASA’s asteroid sample return mission OSIRIS-REx, who has worked with the Hayabusa-2 team, tells The Verge. “These asteroids are the first rocks that formed around the Sun before the planets existed.”

To make sure this sample grab went as smoothly as possible, JAXA did multiple dress rehearsals, during which they lowered the spacecraft very close to the spot on Ryugu where the team wanted to grab a sample. Hayabusa-2 even deployed two tiny rovers onto the surface of the asteroid in September, to collect data about its environment. The terrain of Ryugu turned out to be much rockier than JAXA imagined, and so the mission team decided to do some extra tests to make sure everything would still work. The abundance of caution meant delaying the scheduled sampling date from October until today.

In the meantime, today’s success could be used to ensure that Lauretta’s mission, OSIRIS-REx, is also a success. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched in September 2016 and arrived at an asteroid Bennu late last year. Sometime next year, OSIRIS-REx will also grab a sample from Bennu, though with a much different kind of instrument than what Hayabusa-2 used. Rather than shoot the asteroid with a projectile, OSIRIS-REx will blow highly pressurized gas on the surface of Bennu, which will hopefully cause rocks to bounce into a collecting plate.

The OSIRIS-REx mission team will prepare extensively for this, but they still don’t know exactly what it will be like to touch the asteroid. “What is the response of that surface?” asks Lauretta. “That’s been the biggest uncertainty that we’ve tried to model.” Lauretta hopes that the Hayabusa-2 team can provide some insight into that.

“Up to now we know several top-shaped asteroids, but all of them have a short spin period around 3 hours,” said Makoto Yoshikawa, the Hayabusa2 mission’s manager. “The spin period of Ryugu is about 7.5 hours, so this issue is quite interesting from the point of science.”

If the spacecraft is able to keep its schedule, by the end of July, Hayabusa2 will descend within 3.1 miles of Ryugu’s surface to measure the gravity field around the asteroid. In September or October, Hayabusa2 is scheduled to make its first “touchdown operation” on the asteroid.

Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) observing the landing from a control room on the southern island of Tanegashima applauded and made “V” for victory signs after the Hayabusa2 probe landed on the asteroid on Thursday morning local time.

Its landing is the second time the probe has touched down on the desolate asteroid as part of a complex mission that has also involved sending rovers and robots.[PPTD] July 11 at 10:51 JST: Gate 5 check. The state of the spacecraft is normal and the touchdown sequence was performed as scheduled. Project Manager Tsuda has declared that the 2nd touchdown was a success!— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) July 11, 2019

The mission hopes to collect pristine materials from beneath the surface of the asteroid that could provide insights into what the solar system was like at its birth 4.6bn years ago. The agency said it would be the first time a probe has taken particles from below the surface of an asteroid.

To get at those crucial materials, in April an “impactor” was fired from Hayabusa2 towards Ryugu in a risky process that created a crater on the asteroid’s surface and stirred up material that had not previously been exposed to the atmosphere.

“This is the second touchdown, but doing a touchdown is a challenge whether it’s the first or the second,” Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager, told reporters ahead of the mission.

Hayabusa2’s first touchdown was in February, when it landed briefly on Ryugu and fired 5g pellet at more than 1,050km per hour (650mph) into the asteroid’s surface to puff up dust for collection, before blasting back to its holding position.

During its brief time on the asteroid, Hayabusa2 collected samples from the crater formed in February via a tube that retrieved the unidentified “ejecta” as it floated up.

A photo of the crater taken by Hayabusa2’s camera showed that parts of the asteroid’s surface are covered with materials that are “obviously different” from the rest of the surface, mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa told reporters. “I’m really looking forward to analysing these materials.”

At about the size of a large refrigerator and powered by solar panels, Hayabusa2 is the successor to Jaxa’s first asteroid explorer, Hayabusa – Japanese for falcon.

Hayabusa2’s photos of Ryugu, which means “Dragon Palace” in Japanese and refers to a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale, show the asteroid has a rough surface full of boulders.

The Hayabusa2 mission was launched in December 2014 at a cost of around 30bn yen ($270m). It reached its stationary position above Ryugu in June last year after travelling 3.2bn km on an elliptical orbit around the sun for more than three years, according to Kyodo news agency.

After delivering its precious cargo of samples from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth on December 6, 2020(JST), Hayabusa2 will set out on a new asteroid exploration mission. But it isn’t scheduled to arrive at its next destination until 2031. That eleven-year odyssey will test the limits of Hayabusa2’s capabilities.

The mission extension will prolong Hayabusa2’s journey through space to fully seventeen years from launch. That testifies to the reliability of the spacecraft as designed and built by NEC. The hardy spacecraft’s further travels will provide valuable experience to build on in the future when exploring Jupiter and other worlds beyond. Never before has a Japanese space explorer braved the unforgiving environment of outer space for so long. Even if the extension of the mission takes a serious toll on the engines, the cameras, and the other scientific instruments on board, that in itself constitutes otherwise unattainable data, so it will still be considered a plus.

In 2026, Hayabusa2 is scheduled to observe the asteroid 2001 CC21 with its cameras and other equipment while flying by at high speed. That asteroid is believed to consist of a rare type of rock never studied by a probe before. It may be made of the same stuff as meteorites, which contain material left over from the early days of the solar system. Demonstrating a connection would be a historic discovery on the part of Hayabusa2.

Hayabusa2’s ultimate destination is the mysterious asteroid 1998 KY26, which has a diameter of approximately 30 meters — far smaller than Ryugu’s. It rotates on its axis about every 11 minutes, so its days and nights are just five minutes long. Hayabusa2 plans to rendezvous with this tiny, fast-spinning object. If it succeeds, it will be an unprecedented feat.

Osaka, Japan - Panasonic"s lithium primary batteries have been mounted in the asteroid explorer "Hayabusa2"* launched on December 3, 2014. Three models of graphite fluoride (BR series**) cylindrical-type lithium primary batteries (BR-A, BR-1/2AA, and BR-C) with an extensive shelf life have been mounted this time. The same type of batteries had also previously been mounted in "Hayabusa," which returned to Earth in 2010.

This time, the batteries are being used to support "Hayabusa2""s mission, which involves traveling 5,240,000,000 km back and forth over 6 years while serving as a power source for four instruments--a beacon signal transmitter for collecting the "re-entry capsule," which stores particle samples from an asteroid and brings them back to Earth, an impactor for creating an artificial crater (depression) to retrieve sub-surface materials from the asteroid, a deployable camera for shooting the creation of an artificial crater by the impactor, and a flight data measurement instrument for the re-entry capsule upon its re-entry into the atmosphere.

"Hayabusa2" is the successor to "Hayabusa," which successfully explored the asteroid Itokawa (S-type asteroid) and collected particle samples. The mission of "Hayabusa2" is to explore a C-type asteroid, which is considered to contain organic matter and water, and bring back particulate samples to Earth. With the installation of the "impactor" to create an artificial crater, it will also attempt to collect sub-surface particulate samples from the asteroid in addition to samples obtained from its surface.

With "Hayabusa," Panasonic"s BR series cylindrical lithium primary batteries had maintained their performance even after long-term space flight spanning more than 7 years since launch and were used to transmit beacon signals to indicate the landing position of the "Hayabusa"s" re-entry capsule, thus contributing to the rapid retrieval of the capsule upon its return to Earth in June, 2010. BR series lithium primary batteries use graphite fluoride on the positive electrode, which confers a long shelf life in addition to safety, and also have a wide range of operating temperatures and low self discharge rate. Their high reliability, contributed to retrieval of the "Hayabusa" capsule in the Australian desert, has allowed them to serve in a far greater number of roles in "Hayabusa2" and they will make a substantial contribution to the operation of the mission.

The mission of "Hayabusa2" is to explore materials that facilitated the creation of planets and the growth processes involved in order to reveal the origin and evolution of the Solar System, Earth, and life itself. On this occasion, its objective is to conduct observation of the landscape, internal structure, gravity, as well as other chemicals, and to bring back material samples from asteroid 1999 JU3 (C-type asteroid), which is believed to contain water and organic materials among its mineral constituents. "Hayabusa2" was launched on December 3, 2014. It will arrive at the asteroid around early summer in 2018 and will leave around the end of 2019 to return to Earth around the end of 2020.

Osaka, Japan - Panasonic"s lithium primary batteries have been mounted in the asteroid explorer "Hayabusa2"* launched on December 3, 2014. Three models of graphite fluoride (BR series**) cylindrical-type lithium primary batteries (BR-A, BR-1/2AA, and BR-C) with an extensive shelf life have been mounted this time. The same type of batteries had also previously been mounted in "Hayabusa," which returned to Earth in 2010.

This time, the batteries are being used to support "Hayabusa2""s mission, which involves traveling 5,240,000,000 km back and forth over 6 years while serving as a power source for four instruments--a beacon signal transmitter for collecting the "re-entry capsule," which stores particle samples from an asteroid and brings them back to Earth, an impactor for creating an artificial crater (depression) to retrieve sub-surface materials from the asteroid, a deployable camera for shooting the creation of an artificial crater by the impactor, and a flight data measurement instrument for the re-entry capsule upon its re-entry into the atmosphere.

"Hayabusa2" is the successor to "Hayabusa," which successfully explored the asteroid Itokawa (S-type asteroid) and collected particle samples. The mission of "Hayabusa2" is to explore a C-type asteroid, which is considered to contain organic matter and water, and bring back particulate samples to Earth. With the installation of the "impactor" to create an artificial crater, it will also attempt to collect sub-surface particulate samples from the asteroid in addition to samples obtained from its surface.

With "Hayabusa," Panasonic"s BR series cylindrical lithium primary batteries had maintained their performance even after long-term space flight spanning more than 7 years since launch and were used to transmit beacon signals to indicate the landing position of the "Hayabusa"s" re-entry capsule, thus contributing to the rapid retrieval of the capsule upon its return to Earth in June, 2010. BR series lithium primary batteries use graphite fluoride on the positive electrode, which confers a long shelf life in addition to safety, and also have a wide range of operating temperatures and low self discharge rate. Their high reliability, contributed to retrieval of the "Hayabusa" capsule in the Australian desert, has allowed them to serve in a far greater number of roles in "Hayabusa2" and they will make a substantial contribution to the operation of the mission.

The mission of "Hayabusa2" is to explore materials that facilitated the creation of planets and the growth processes involved in order to reveal the origin and evolution of the Solar System, Earth, and life itself. On this occasion, its objective is to conduct observation of the landscape, internal structure, gravity, as well as other chemicals, and to bring back material samples from asteroid 1999 JU3 (C-type asteroid), which is believed to contain water and organic materials among its mineral constituents. "Hayabusa2" was launched on December 3, 2014. It will arrive at the asteroid around early summer in 2018 and will leave around the end of 2019 to return to Earth around the end of 2020.

After delivering its precious cargo of samples from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth on December 6, 2020(JST), Hayabusa2 will set out on a new asteroid exploration mission. But it isn’t scheduled to arrive at its next destination until 2031. That eleven-year odyssey will test the limits of Hayabusa2’s capabilities.

The mission extension will prolong Hayabusa2’s journey through space to fully seventeen years from launch. That testifies to the reliability of the spacecraft as designed and built by NEC. The hardy spacecraft’s further travels will provide valuable experience to build on in the future when exploring Jupiter and other worlds beyond. Never before has a Japanese space explorer braved the unforgiving environment of outer space for so long. Even if the extension of the mission takes a serious toll on the engines, the cameras, and the other scientific instruments on board, that in itself constitutes otherwise unattainable data, so it will still be considered a plus.

In 2026, Hayabusa2 is scheduled to observe the asteroid 2001 CC21 with its cameras and other equipment while flying by at high speed. That asteroid is believed to consist of a rare type of rock never studied by a probe before. It may be made of the same stuff as meteorites, which contain material left over from the early days of the solar system. Demonstrating a connection would be a historic discovery on the part of Hayabusa2.

Hayabusa2’s ultimate destination is the mysterious asteroid 1998 KY26, which has a diameter of approximately 30 meters — far smaller than Ryugu’s. It rotates on its axis about every 11 minutes, so its days and nights are just five minutes long. Hayabusa2 plans to rendezvous with this tiny, fast-spinning object. If it succeeds, it will be an unprecedented feat.

Context. Starting from late June 2018, the JAXA asteroid sample return mission Hayabusa2 acquired a large quantity of resolved images and spectra of the surface of the asteroid (162173) Ryugu.

The Hayabusa2 JAXA asteroid sample return mission was launched on December 3, 2014 and recently arrived to the primitive asteroid (162173) Ryugu after 3.5 yr of cruise. On June 27, 2018 the spacecraft was set at 20 km from Ryugu’s surface (called “home position”) hovering the asteroid in order to start the initial mapping phase. At that time the Hayabusa2 mission acquired a very large number of resolved images and spectra of the asteroid surface. The on-board instruments reveal Ryugu as a top-shape body characterized by an equatorial ridge with a radius of 502 ± 2 m, and a very low density of 1190 ± 3 kg m−3. This implies porosity larger than 50% and a rubble-pile nature (Watanabe et al. 2019). Ryugu presents a very dark surface with the visible geometric albedo of 0.045 ± 0.002 (Sugita et al. 2019).

We used the ONC-T data obtained on July 12, 2018 at 20 km altitude, which have almost global coverage at a resolution of 2 m pixel−1. We used the normalized reflectance measured in the seven broadband filters (ul = 397.5 nm; b = 479.8 nm; v = 548.9 nm, n = 589.9 nm; w = 700.1 nm; x = 857.3 nm; and p = 945.1 nm) with calibration and errors as reported by Tatsumi et al. (2019). The data have been coregistered as described by Honda et al. (2018, 2019) and photometrically corrected following the Hapke photometric model obtained for ONC-T v-filter images combined with ground-based observations as described by Sugita et al. (2019). Since the model parameters for the other band filters are still under examination (Domingue et al. 2019), the other filter images are also calibrated using this single photometric model. The data with emission and incidence angles larger than 50° have been eliminated to avoid shadow effects. Then the mean value of a 5 × 5 pixel area (about 10 × 10 m) is calculated to reduce noise. The ONC-T data were also analyzed by Honda et al. (2019) using different clustering methods.

The average spectral behavior of the six identified groups, presented in Fig. 1b, shows a band at 487 nm, a drop of the reflectance at 945 nm, and quite flat spectra with slopes between these two wavelengths, ranging from 0.011 to 0.021%/nm.The two larger groups (numbers 1 and 2, in Fig. 1b) are those already found at the 3σ confidence level conserving the same spectrophotometric behavior. However, several objects have migrated from the larger group (#1 in Fig. 1a) to double the population of the smaller one (#2, which now includes about 5% of the objects) and to form four new small groups (containing each around 1% of the objects) and reported in Fig. 1b. These new small groups are very well defined, following the very small value of their standard deviation and they may represent some specific characters of the asteroid surface. The new groups #3 and #5 are distinguished for the values between 397, 479, and 590 nm, but, being redder, have the same slope trend in the range 700 and 947 nm. Group #4 has the same behavior as #1 in the red part, but is very different in the ultraviolet, both the blue and visible parts, having the deepest band at 487 nm. Group #6 is the bluest and has a negative spectral slope.

Comparing the obtained results with those of October 30 when the Hayabusa2 spacecraft was much closer and the spatial resolution of the obtained spectra was about 10 m px−1, the same results are obtained at 3σ confidence level with the two groups (Fig. 5e). However, at 2σ only three classes are obtained (Fig. 5f): group #2 with its redder spectra is almost concentrated in the same areas (west and south) as the previous NIRS3 data analyzed, while group #3 with its bluer spectra appears in different areas around the equatorial surface. The phase angle of these observations was smaller then the previous one from July, but no effect has been detected on spectral slope variations with changes of phase angles. This is in good agreement with Perna et al. (2018) who found, on the basis of a large asteroid observational survey, that the effect of phase reddening on low-albedo asteroid spectra is negligible.

Moreover, the obtained results show a clear spectral dichotomy both between the eastern and western hemispheres and between thenorthern and southern hemispheres. From our results, the parts of surface represented in the maps with orange and red colors and localized on the southwestern hemisphere could be connected to the presence of small sized regolith grains. The former dichotomy is also discussed by Sugita et al. (2019) on the basis of the image geomorphological interpretation. The surface spectral variations we found here can give constrains on the re-accumulation phase of the present rubble-pile body after the catastrophic disruption of the parent asteroid (Michel et al. 2015).

Hayabusa2 is still working and some specific areas will have very detailed data both with ONC-T and NIRS3 instruments. We will also have imaging data of the sampling sites at very high resolution and more detailed analysis putting together available data of all the instruments will allow better interpretation of Ryugu’s surface characteristics.

We thank the Haybusa2 JAXA team for their efforts in making the mission successful. Hayabusa2 was developed and built under the leadership of JAXA, with contributions from the DLR and the CNES, and in collaboration with NASA, Nagoya University, University of Tokyo, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Aizu University, Kobe University, and other universities, institutes, and companies in Japan. We would also wish to thank all the engineers who contributed to the success of the Hayabusa2 mission, especially T. Masuda, S. Yasuda, K. Matsushima, and T. Ohshima. This study was supported by JSPS International Planetary Network. M.A.B., P.H., J.D.P.D., and M.F. acknowledge funding support from the CNES. D.P. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions (grant agreement no. 664931).

Hayabusa2asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese state space agency JAXA. It is a successor to the Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 December 2014 and rendezvoused in space with near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu on 27 June 2018.UTC.

Hayabusa2 carries multiple science payloads for remote sensing and sampling, and four small rovers to investigate the asteroid surface and analyze the environmental and geological context of the samples collected.

Initially, launch was planned for 30 November 2014,H-IIA launch vehicle.Hayabusa2 launched together with PROCYON asteroid flyby space probe. PROCYON"s mission was a failure. Hayabusa2 arrived at Ryugu on 27 June 2018,

Following the initial success of Hayabusa, JAXA began studying a potential successor mission in 2007.Hayabusa2. The cost of the project estimated in 2010 was 16.4 billion yen (US$149 million).

Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 December 2014, arrived at asteroid Ryugu on 27 June 2018, and remained stationary at a distance of about 20 km (12 mi) to study and map the asteroid. In the week of 16 July 2018, commands were sent to move to a lower hovering altitude.

The first sample collection was scheduled to start in late October 2018, but the rovers encountered a landscape with large and small boulders but no surface soil for sampling. Therefore, it was decided to postpone the sample collection plans to 2019 and further evaluate various options for the landing.Hayabusa2 released an impactor to create an artificial crater on the asteroid surface. However, Hayabusa2 initially failed on 14 May 2019 to drop special reflective markers necessary onto the surface for guiding the descent and sampling processes,JST), dropping the contents by parachute in a special container at a location in southern Australia. The samples were retrieved the same day for secure transport back to the JAXA labs in Japan.

The design of Hayabusa2 is based on the first Hayabusa spacecraft, with some improvements.solar arrays with an output of 2.6 kW at 1 AU, and 1.4 kW at 1.4 AU.lithium-ion batteries.

Hayabusa2 carried four small rovers to explore the asteroid surface MINERVA-II-2, failed before release from the orbiter. It was released on 2 October 2019 to orbit the asteroid and perform gravitational measurements before being allowed to impact the asteroid a few days later.

MASCOT was deployed 3 October 2018. It had a successful landing and performed its surface mission successfully. Two papers were published describing the results from MASCOT in the scientific journals C-type asteroids consist of more porous material than previously thought, explaining a deficit of this meteorite type. Meteorites of this type are too porous to survive the entry into the atmosphere of planet Earth. Another finding was that Ryugu consists of two different almost black types of rock with little internal cohesion, but no dust was detected.Journal of Geophysical Research and describes the magnetic properties of Ryugu, showing that Ryugu does not have a magnetic field on a boulder scale.

The first two surface samples were scheduled to start in late October 2018, but the rovers showed large and small boulders and insufficient surface area to sample, so the mission team decided to postpone sampling to 2019 and evaluate various options.

Hayabusa2"s sampling device is based on Hayabusa"s. The first surface sample retrieval was conducted on 21 February 2019, which began with the spacecraft"s descent, approaching the surface of the asteroid. When the sampler horn attached to Hayabusa2"s underside touched the surface, a 5 g (0.18 oz) tantalum projectile (bullet) was fired at 300 m/s (980 ft/s) into the surface.

The sub-surface sample collection required an impactor to create a crater in order to retrieve material under the surface, not subjected to space weathering. This required removing a large volume of surface material with a powerful impactor. For this purpose, Hayabusa2 deployed on 5 April 2019 a free-flying gun with one "bullet", called the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI); the system contained a 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) copper projectile, shot onto the surface with an explosive propellant charge. Following SCI deployment, Hayabusa2 also left behind a deployable camera (DCAM3)

Replica of Hayabusa"s sample-return capsule (SRC) used for re-entry. Hayabusa2"s capsule is of the same size, measuring 40 cm (16 in) in diameter and using a parachute for touchdown.

At the end of the science phase in November 2019,Hayabusa2 used its ion engines for changing orbit and return to Earth.Hayabusa2 flew past Earth in late 2020, it released the capsule, on 5 December 2020 at 05:30 UTC.Woomera Test Range in Australia.×10^9 km (35.0 AU).

With the successful return and retrieval of the sample capsule on 6 December 2020 (JST), Hayabusa2 will now use its remaining 30 kg (66 lb) of xenon propellant (from the initial 66 kg (146 lb)) to extend its service life and fly out to explore new targets.2001 CC21 will be a high-speed fly-by of the L-type asteroid, a relatively uncommon type of asteroid.Hayabusa2 was not designed for this type of fly-by. The rendezvous with 1998 KY26 will be the first visit of a fast rotating micro-asteroid, with a rotation period of about 10 minutes.exoplanets.Venus flyby to set up an encounter with

The nickname of the Extended Mission is “Hayabusa2♯” (read “Hayabusa2 Sharp”). The character “♯” is a musical symbol that means “raise the note by a semitone”, and for this mission, it is also the acronym for “Small Hazardous Asteroid Reconnaissance Probe”. This name indicates that the Hayabusa2 Extended Mission is set to investigate small but potentially dangerous asteroids that may collide with the Earth in the future. The English meaning of the word “sharp” also highlights the extremely challenging nature of this mission, which is also reflected in the musical meaning of “raise the note by a semitone”, suggestive of raising of the rank of the mission.

As the character “♯” is a musical symbol, it can be difficult to enter in practice when typing. The symbol can therefore be substituted for the “#” symbol (number sign / pound / hash) that is on computer keyboards or phones. There is no problem with the notation “Hayabusa2♯” (musical symbol) or “Hayabusa2#”.

Tachibana, S.; Abe, M.; Arakawa, M.; Fujimoto, M.; Iijima, Y.; Ishiguro, M.; Kitazato, K.; Kobayashi, N.; Namiki, N.; Okada, T.; Okazaki, R.; Sawada, H.; Sugita, S.; Takano, Y.; Tanaka, S.; Watanabe, S.; Yoshikawa, M.; Kuninaka, H. (2014). "Hayabusa2: Scientific importance of samples returned from C-type near-Earth asteroid (162173) 1999 JU3". Geochemical Journal. 48 (6): 571–587. Bibcode:2014GeocJ..48..571T. doi:10.2343/geochemj.2.0350.

Yuichi Tsuda; Makoto Yoshikawa; Masanao Abe; Hiroyuki Minamino; Satoru Nakazawa (October–November 2013). "System design of the Hayabusa 2 – Asteroid sample return mission to 1999 JU3". Acta Astronautica. 91: 356–362. Bibcode:2013AcAau..91..356T. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2013.06.028.

Makoto Yoshikawa (6 January 2011). 小惑星探査ミッション「はやぶさ2 [Asteroid Exploration Mission "Hayabusa2"] (PDF) (in Japanese). 11th Symposium on Space Science. Retrieved 20 February 2011.

Operation Status of Ion Engines of Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2, Nishiyama, Kazutaka; Hosoda, Satoshi; Tsukizaki, Ryudo; Kuninaka, Hitoshi; JAXA, January 2017

The Ion Engine System for Hayabusa2 Archived 6 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine, The 32nd International Electric Propulsion Conference, Wiesbaden, Germany, September 11–15, 2011

Kameda, S.; Suzuki, H.; Takamatsu, T.; Cho, Y.; Yasuda, T.; Yamada, M.; Sawada, H.; Honda, R.; Morota, T.; Honda, C.; Sato, M.; Okumura, Y.; Shibasaki, K.; Ikezawa, S.; Sugita, S. (2017). "Preflight Calibration Test Results for Optical Navigation Camera Telescope (ONC-T) Onboard the Hayabusa2 Spacecraft". Space Science Reviews. 208 (1–4): 17–31. Bibcode:2017SSRv..208...17K. doi:10.1007/s11214-015-0227-y. S2CID 255069232.

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Okada, Tatsuaki; Fukuhara, Tetsuya; Tanaka, Satoshi; Taguchi, Makoto; Imamura, Takeshi; Arai, Takehiko; Senshu, Hiroki; Ogawa, Yoshiko; Demura, Hirohide; Kitazato, Kohei; Nakamura, Ryosuke; Kouyama, Toru; Sekiguchi, Tomohiko; Hasegawa, Sunao; Matsunaga, Tsuneo (July 2017). "Thermal Infrared Imaging Experiments of C-Type Asteroid 162173 Ryugu on Hayabusa2". Space Science Reviews. 208 (1–4): 255–286. Bibcode:2017SSRv..208..255O. doi:

Yoshimitsu, Tetsuo; Kubota, Takashi; Tsuda, Yuichi; Yoshikawa, Makoto. "MINERVA-II1: Successful image capture, landing on Ryugu and hop!". JAXA Hayabusa2 Project. JAXA. Retrieved 24 September 2018.

Yoshimitsu, Tetsuo; Kubota, Takashi; Tomiki, Atsushi; Yoshikaw, Kent (24 October 2019). Operation results of MINERVA-II twin rovers onboard Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer (PDF). 70th International Astronautical Congress. International Astronautical Federation. Retrieved 25 January 2020.

Ho, Tra-Mi; et al. (2017). "MASCOT—The Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout Onboard the Hayabusa2 Mission". Space Science Reviews. 208 (1–4): 339–374. Bibcode:2017SSRv..208..339H. doi:10.1007/s11214-016-0251-6. S2CID 255067977.

Grott, M.; Knollenberg, J.; Borgs, B.; Hänschke, F.; Kessler, E.; Helbert, J.; Maturilli, A.; Müller, N. (1 August 2016). "The MASCOT Radiometer MARA for the Hayabusa 2 Mission". Space Science Reviews. 208 (1–4): 413–431. Bibcode:2017SSRv..208..413G. doi:10.1007/s11214-016-0272-1. S2CID 118245538.

Saiki, Takanao; Sawada, Hirotaka; Okamoto, Chisato; Yano, Hajime; Takagi, Yasuhiko; Akahoshi, Yasuhiro; Yoshikawa, Makoto (2013). "Small carry-on impactor of Hayabusa2 mission". Acta Astronautica. 84: 227–236. Bibcode:2013AcAau..84..227S. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.11.010.

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"はやぶさ２、再び小惑星へ 地球帰還後も任務継続―対象天体を選定へ・ＪＡＸＡ" [Hayabusa2 will explore another asteroid, continuing mission after returning target sample to Earth] (in Japanese). Jiji Press. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.

All of this went a long way toward helping scientists better understand Ryugu, a primitive rock rich in carbon, though more porous, rubbly, and containing less hydrated minerals than initially predicted. Asteroids like Ryugu are the most common type, but because they are so dark, they are tricky to study through telescopes. Even observations like Hayabusa2’s are limited since there are only so many kinds of instruments you can send into space, and they don’t always survive the journey (one of Hayabusa2’s four rovers actually failed before its release).

But nothing compares to the analysis we can do inside state-of-the-art labs on Earth. That brings us to the marquee purpose of Hayabusa2: to bring a sample of Ryugu back to Earth.

Sample return missions are becoming increasingly in vogue, as evidenced by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission and China’s current Chang’e 5 drilling operation on the moon. But they aren’t easy. In February 2019, Hayabusa2 landed on the surface and fired two small bullets into the asteroid to stir up a cloud of particles from which the sample arm could collect debris. It fired a larger projectile in April that same year, diving down to the surface a couple months later to retrieve even more ejected material.

Whereas the first Hayabusa mission was only able to bring back a millionth of a gram through this approach, there’s optimism Hayabusa2 will bring back much more. “I am proud of this success, even though I don’t know yet that the re-entry [of the sample capsule] will be successful,” says Eri Tatsumi, a planetary scientist at the University of La Laguna in Spain who has been working directly with Hayabusa2’s data so far.

In addition, there are some peculiar things about Ryugu’s history that require the type of context you can only get from laboratory analysis. Tomokatsu Morota, a planetary scientist from the University of Tokyo, led a team that studied Ryugu’s surface using images taken by Hayabusa2’s cameras. The team noticed alterations on the surface caused by solar heating. “This suggests a scenario where Ryugu underwent an orbital excursion near the sun,” he says. A closer look at the rock fragments could help confirm whether that happened or not.

Hayabusa2 will drop off the sample capsule of Ryugu material in just a few days. It must survive a fiery reentry before landing in Australia. The spacecraft itself, however, will head back out for an extended mission—first to asteroid 2001 CC21 for a flyby in July 2026, and then a formal rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in July 2031. In between those highlights the spacecraft will make a pair of swings around Earth while attempting to make observations of distant exoplanets.

Hayabusa2’s success will live on in future sample return missions too. JAXA is planning one for the Martian moon Phobos, called Martian Moon eXploration, or MMX. “MMX is technically made from a lot of the heritage established by Hayabusa and Hayabusa2,” says Tatsumi. “And Hayabusa2’s project involved many young scientists and engineers who will lead next generation’s missions. Given those experiences, JAXA can launch more complicated and larger missions in the future.”

A live webcast of the control room showed dozens of JAXA staff members nervously monitoring data ahead of the touchdown before exploding into applause after receiving a signal from Hayabusa2 that it had landed.

In footage broadcast from the control room, presenters repeatedly described the smiles on the faces of team members. When Doppler data came through showing “behaviour as expected” after the spacecraft landed, the official Twitter account for the mission reported “cheers went up with a clap!”

Hayabusa 2 caught up with Ryugu in June last year after a three-and-a-half-year journey to intercept it. Mission controllers at the Japanese space agency had planned to touch down in October, but delayed the attempt after cameras revealed the surface to be far rockier than expected.

They resemble small fragments of charcoal, but the soil samples collected from an asteroid and returned to Earth by a Japanese spacecraft were hardly disappointing. The samples Japanese space officials described Thursday are as big as one centimetre (0.4 inches) and rock hard, not breaking when picked up or poured into another container. Smaller black, sandy granules the spacecraft collected and returned separately were described last week. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft got the two sets of samples last year from two locations on the asteroid Ryugu, more than 300 million kilometres (190 million miles) from Earth. It dropped them from space onto a target in the Australian Outback, and the samples were brought to Japan in early December.

This image shows soil samples, seen inside C compartment of the capsule brought back by Hayabusa2, in Sagamihara, near Tokyo. Japanese space officials said Thursday they found more asteroid soil samples collected and brought back from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, in addition to black sandy granules they found last week, raising their hopes of finding clues to the origins of the solar system. Image credit: Twitter/JAXA

To get the second set of samples in July last year, Hayabusa2 dropped an impactor to blast below the asteroid’s surface, collecting material from the crafter so it would be unaffected by space radiation and other environmental factors.

Hayabusa2, meanwhile, is on an 11-year expedition to another small and distant asteroid, 1998KY26, to try to study possible defences against meteorites that could fly toward Earth.