Hayabusa casts a shadow on Ryugu’s surface in this image from October 25, 2018. Image credit: JAXA/ISAS

JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft successfully touched down on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu on February 22.  While telemetry from the spacecraft is still being studied, the first of three “bullets,” small projectiles fired into the asteroid to release material for sampling, was successfully fired. Samples collected by Hayabusa-2 will return to Earth in 2020. READ MORE

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