In December 2020, the Hayabusa2 mission of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) returned samples from the near-Earth, C-type asteroid (162173) Ryugu. C-type asteroids have spectral properties similar to carbonaceous chondrite […]
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa2 mission to asteroid Ryugu investigated its surface from 2018 to 2020 and successfully returned approximately 5.4 grams of Ryugu samples to Earth in […]
Water and organics may have been delivered to the inner solar system by volatile-rich asteroids that migrated in from the outer solar system. The Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx spacecraft were recently […]
Sample return missions, such as Hayabusa2, which recently returned samples to Earth, and OSIRIS-REx, which is expected to return samples in 2023, are important and highly anticipated for planetary scientists. […]
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully performed an artificial impact experiment on the surface of near-Earth asteroid Ryugu on April 5, 2019. The experiment entailed firing a two-kilogram […]
The Hayabusa2 mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has successfully returned materials from the asteroid Ryugu to Earth. Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid of primitive carbonaceous chondrite-like […]
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports the presence of ribose and other bio-essential sugars, including arabinose and xylose, in two carbonaceous meteorites, Murchison […]
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft, operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), has been in orbit around 162173 Ryugu, a C or Cg class (carbonaceous) asteroid, since June 2018. After more […]
New images from the surface of the asteroid Ryugu reveal surprising results about the size and composition of rocks on the surface of this ancient object. Ryugu, which is believed […]
The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 made a second touchdown on July 10 on the asteroid Ryugu. Photos from the spacecraft show views of Ryugu’s surface at touchdown and the nearby rock before and after the […]
On April 25, Japan’s space agency (JAXA) confirmed that Hayabusa2 successfully created an artificial crater on asteroid Ryugu. Three weeks earlier, JAXA separated the SCI (Small Carry-on Impactor) from the […]
Have you ever wondered what it would look like on the surface of an asteroid? Perhaps you watched a science fiction movie and wondered how close the screen play came […]
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) Hayabusa2 spacecraft released the twin MINERVA-II1 landers above the surface of asteroid Ryugu on September 20. The rovers will “hop” around Ryugu’s surface collecting images and […]
SMD has released final text and announced a Step-2 due date for ROSES-15 C.19 Hayabusa2 Participating Scientist Program. The old text has been totally replaced, the changes have not been tracked. However, the […]