Hayabusa2 Arrives at Ryugu

Date: June 27, 2018 • Location: Tokyo, Japan

The Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 (artist's impression pictured) arrived at the asteroid Ryugu to collect samples for return to Earth.

Hayabusa2 is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese state space agency JAXA. It is a successor to the Hayabusa mission, which returned asteroid samples for the first time in June 2010. Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 December 2014 and rendezvoused in space with near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu on 27 June 2018. It surveyed the asteroid for a year and a half and took samples. It left the asteroid in November 2019 and returned the samples to Earth on 5 December 2020 UTC. Its mission was extended through at least 2031, during which it flew by the asteroid 98943 Torifune in July 2026, and has a planned rendezvous with the small, rapidly rotating asteroid 1998 KY26 in July 2031.