Japan's Hayabusa2 Asteroid Mission

On February 22, 2019, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency released video of the 1st spacecraft to successfully land on an asteroid! The video consists of 233 still images showing the craft descending to the ice surface of the asteroid.

The mission was to explore a C-type asteroid named Ryugu and bring a sample back to Earth. C-type asteroids are the most common form of an asteroid. They are generally carbon-based and exist on the edge of the Asteroid belt. They are thought to have had very little evolution since the creation of our Solar System. It is thought that learning about C-type asteroids can help understand how a planet becomes habitable.

Hayabusa2 reached Ryugu on June 27, 2018. It spent the summer examining the cold rock. One of the coolest findings, Ryugu has seasons just like Earth. The tiny 1km wide asteroid has a rotation on its axis that caused the sunlight to vary enough to produce the seasons. The rotation was opposite of Earth and this is generally assumed caused by a violent past.

Three landing sites were chosen. Ryugu was very rugged and covered with boulders and craters. The final sites were selected on gradient size, temperature, and a low boulder density. On September 21, 2018, two 1kg rovers were released on the surface and began sending images back right away. A third rover named MASCOT was deployed about two weeks later and was able to send back 17 hours of data.

Finally, on February 21st, the Hayabusa2 craft finally began its own descent onto the asteroid. At about 500m above the surface, Hayabusa2 took control of itself and began its final descent. At 8.5m it was time to grab the sample. A bullet was fired into the asteroid to break up material and it was then collected by the sample horn into a container.

Successful, it was time to ascend again. The mission is far from over though. Currently, Hayabusa2 is conducting low altitude operations examining Ryugu's surface. They may attempt a second touchdown in May. Hayabusa 2 is scheduled for a return to Earth near the end of 2020.

Additional Resources

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/hayabusa2/
Hayabusa2’s Twitter Page - https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa
The Hayabusa2 Mission - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/hayabusa-2/in-depth/