The Japanese space agency has declared an end to the exploratory phase of the Hayabusa2 mission. Beginning tomorrow, the overachieving spacecraft will leave Ryugu and head back to Earth, bringing—hopefully—its asteroid samples along with it.
Following a pair of successful touchdowns onto the surface of Ryugu, Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe is packing its precious cargo as it prepares to bring samples of the asteroid back to Earth.
On Friday, Japan’s Hayabusa2 may have become the first probe in history to collect material from beneath the surface of an asteroid – a mission that could yield important new insights about the early stages of our solar system. The attempt alone is an exciting achievement, but we won’t know…