At 01:56 UTC, Hayabusa2 released SCI, and JAXA officials said it should have been descending towards Ryugu at about 5 centimeters per second. SCI had a 40-minute timer, which means it should have dropped from 500 to 380 meters before detonation, meaning it was slightly higher than I had predicted in my What to Expect article!

Bad weather at JAXA's Usuda Deep Space Center forced Hayabusa2's signal over to NASA's Deep Space Network, apparently causing a slight delay in some of the telemetry received in the control room. Because of this, confirmation of SCI deployment, horizontal retreat, DCAM3 deployment, and vertical retreat all lagged slightly behind expected times, increasing the tension.

But confirmation eventually did come! After a short wait, JAXA confirmed everything went according to plan, and Hayabusa2 was receiving a signal from DCAM3 as it ducked behind Ryugu. Earlier in the broadcast, JAXA showed off a replica of DCAM3. It's very tiny!