Small-body mission · JAXA

Hayabusa2

JAXA's follow-up to Hayabusa — a far more capable mission to the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu. It deployed rovers and a lander, fired a projectile to make an artificial crater and sample subsurface material, and returned 5.4 grams of pristine, water- and organic-bearing rock. The spacecraft is now on an extended mission to a small fast-rotating asteroid.

Extended missionSample-Return Mission Rendezvous Mission Lander Mission Impactor Mission

This is the small-body-missions view of Hayabusa2. See its main mission page for the full profile.

Targets & sample

Target bodies:162173 Ryugu

Returned sample:Ryugu Sample (Hayabusa2)

Mission & science

Goals: Return a sample of a carbonaceous (C-type) asteroid, including subsurface material exposed by an impactor.
Engineering milestones: Deployed the MASCOT lander and MINERVA-II rovers; the Small Carry-on Impactor made an artificial crater (2019).
Science discoveries: Ryugu is a carbon-rich rubble pile; its samples contain water-bearing minerals and amino acids.
Sample return: 5.4 g of surface and subsurface material, recovered at Woomera, Australia, in December 2020.
Outcome: Complete success; extended to asteroid 1998 KY26.

Knowledge connections

Operated byJAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
Part of programHayabusa program
Launched byH-IIA
Launched fromTanegashima Space Center
Mission target162173 Ryugu
Visited162173 Ryugu
Returned samples from162173 Ryugu
Member of groupSample-Return Mission
Member of groupRendezvous Mission
Member of groupLander Mission
Member of groupImpactor Mission
Landed on162173 Ryugu
Impacted162173 Ryugu
Collected sampleRyugu Sample (Hayabusa2)
Mission includesHayabusa2 Sample-Return Capsule
Associated withProximity Operations
Associated withSurface Operations & Sampling
Tracked byJAXA Deep Space Network
Associated withOSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 Sample Asteroids

Sources

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

JAXAJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Japanese missions (Hayabusa, Akatsuki) and space science.
NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.

Loading…

Hayabusa2

Mission & science

Goals

Return a sample of a carbonaceous (C-type) asteroid, including subsurface material exposed by an impactor.

Engineering milestones

Deployed the MASCOT lander and MINERVA-II rovers; the Small Carry-on Impactor made an artificial crater (2019).

Science discoveries

Ryugu is a carbon-rich rubble pile; its samples contain water-bearing minerals and amino acids.

Sample return

5.4 g of surface and subsurface material, recovered at Woomera, Australia, in December 2020.

Outcome

Complete success; extended to asteroid 1998 KY26.

Sources

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

JAXAJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Japanese missions (Hayabusa, Akatsuki) and space science.

NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.

Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.