The scientists and engineers behind Japan's Hayabusa2 mission are giving themselves more time to prepare for a hair-raising sample collection from asteroid Ryugu's surface.

Hayabusa2 arrived at Ryugu in June, deployed three hopping rovers in September, and dropped a toaster-sized lander earlier this month. The spacecraft was scheduled to touch down on the asteroid and collect a sample later this month, but that has been delayed to early 2019 as Ryugu and Hayabusa2 prepare for solar conjunction, a roughly month-long blackout period where they are on the opposite side of the sun from Earth.

"Once the angle between the spacecraft, Earth and Sun is less than about 6 degrees, the radio noise from the Sun interferes with communication too much to send a signal to Hayabusa2," said Elizabeth Tasker, an associate professor at the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA. "As that angle shrinks even more, there is also a point where the Sun is physically in the way."

JAXA officials say the delay will give them more time to study Ryugu's surface in preparation for touchdown, while learning more about the performance of their spacecraft.