Dehydrated

Asteroids are thought to be the source for much of the water on Earth, but Hayabusa2 has found Ryugu to be surprisingly dry — unlike asteroid Bennu, which is currently being orbited by the Osiris-Rex spacecraft.

Sampling Ryugu

Hayabusa2 briefly touched the asteroid, fired a projectile into the rocky surface and tried to capture a spray of particles with its sample horn, the dark object in this sped-up video:

The spacecraft rose through a cloud of debris and returned to a safe distance. A farewell image taken of the landing site shows the dark blast pattern and spots of dust on the camera.

Target marker

Hayabusa2 spotted the bright reflection of a target marker, a device that it dropped on the asteroid’s surface in October. The marker will serve as a landmark during Hayabusa2’s first touchdown attempt next month.

Dress rehearsal

Hayabusa2 moves away from asteroid Ryugu after successfully rehearsing a future touchdown.

Out of batteries

The Mascot lander studied asteroid Ryugu for over 17 hours before its battery died. Hayabusa2 photographed the lander as it descended …

… and Mascot photographed Ryugu’s dark surface just before it touched down.

Asteroid landing

Hayabusa2 descended to within 500 feet of asteroid Ryugu before releasing the Mascot lander.

The lander photographed its shadow while falling toward the surface.

Mascot

The Mascot lander is about 12 inches across. If it touches down successfully, the lander’s battery should last about 16 hours, or two days on Ryugu.

On the surface

Rover 1B hopped to a new location on asteroid Ryugu and photographed the sun moving across the sky.

Rover separation

Hayabusa2’s two Minerva rovers touched down on asteroid Ryugu. Rover 1B took a color image of the asteroid as it descended to the surface.

And Rover 1A took this blurry image of Hayabusa2 floating over asteroid Ryugu.

Hours later, Rover 1A hopped across the rocky surface of the asteroid.

The spacecraft’s shadow

Hayabusa2 descended to within 200 feet of asteroid Ryugu and released two small rovers toward the surface.

A detailed image of the white square above:

Rock hoppers

Hayabusa2 is preparing to deploy two small rovers this week, each about 7 inches wide. Ryugu’s gravity is so weak that the Minerva rovers will be able to slowly hop and float across the surface using internal rotors.

Rehearsing a landing

Hayabusa2 dropped toward Ryugu during a rehearsal for a future touchdown. The shadow of the spacecraft is visible as a small dot in the final few frames.

Choosing a landing site

The Hayabusa2 team selected a planned landing site (in purple) and two backup options (in orange) near the asteroid’s equator.

Ryugu up close

During an experiment to measure the asteroid’s gravity, the spacecraft took these images of the surface from less than a mile away.

Searching for a landing site

Detailed images like this, taken from less than 4 miles away, were used to evaluate possible landing sites.

Southern summer

Red indicates higher temperatures in the animation below. The upper (southern) hemisphere of the asteroid is warmer because it is currently tilted toward the sun.

The shape of ryugu

Asteroid Ryugu is shaped like a spinning top and has a rock-strewn surface.

A three-dimensional model shows the asteroid’s dimpled, irregular structure.

Chasing an asteroid

Hayabusa2 launched in late 2014 and spent three and a half years matching speed and direction with Ryugu.

Sun Earth flyby Dec. 2015 Launch Dec. 2014 Arrival at Ryugu June–July 2018 Sun Earth flyby Dec. 2015 Launch Dec. 2014 Arrival at Ryugu June–July 2018 Earth flyby Dec. 2015 Sun Arrival at Ryugu June–July 2018 Launch Dec. 2014 Sun Earth flyby Dec. 2015 Launch Dec. 2014 Arrival at Ryugu June–July 2018

Approaching Ryugu

A series of images taken while Hayabusa2 was approaching Ryugu shows a bright protrusion near the asteroid’s pole.

Craters

Ryugu is about half a mile wide. A prominent ridge along its equator gives it a squarish shape that has been compared to a diamond or an abacus bead.

One day on Ryugu

A day on Ryugu is about seven and a half hours long, but the asteroid spins backwards, in the opposite direction of Earth and the sun. As a result, the asteroid’s south pole points “up” relative to Earth.

Tracking Ryugu

The spacecraft’s star tracker took this composite image of Ryugu (リュウグウ) moving across the constellation Pisces on May 11-14.

Earth flyby

Hayabusa2 swung by the Earth on December 3, 2015, using the planet’s gravity to adjust its orbit.

After the spacecraft passed Earth, it turned back to photograph clouds swirling around the bright ice of Antarctica.

Launch

Hayabusa2 was launched on December 3, 2014, from the Tanegashima Space Center in Southern Japan.

Touching an asteroid

If Hayabusa2 is successful, it will study Ryugu in detail, drop a small probe and three mini-rovers, touch its surface and return a sample of the asteroid to Earth in 2020.

Hayabusa returns a sample

Hayabusa2 is Japan’s second visit to an asteroid. The first Hayabusa launched in 2003 and was the first spacecraft to complete a round-trip journey to an asteroid. In June 2010, a capsule carrying dust from asteroid Itokawa landed safely in the Australian outback.

Wakayama University Institute for Education on Space

Asteroid Itokawa

Itokawa was an small, oblong asteroid with a rough and rocky surface.

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