lotnictwo: Hayabusa2

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Hayabusa2 (Japanese: はやぶさ2; lit. 'Peregrine falcon 2') 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, rapidl…

Evidence: 66 • authority: 72

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is the operator of the Japanese space program and Japan's national aeronautics research agency. It was formed in 2003 through the merger of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan, and the National Space Development Agency of Japan. JAXA has conducted missions including the SELENE lunar orbiter, the SLIM lunar lander and rovers, and the Hayabusa asteroid missions. Hayabusa returned samples from an asteroid in 2010, while Hayabusa2 deployed rovers on an asteroid surface. Akatsuki studied Venus from orbit between 2015 and 2024. IKAROS tested solar sail propulsion in interplanetary space. BepiCol…

Evidence: 53 • authority: 92

Bennu and Ryugu constituents from samples IR analyses and potential source of terrestrial planets' ingredients.. Samples collected on carbonaceous asteroids and preserved from terrestrial alteration are key witnesses of the early evolution of the Solar System. Here we present the results of the characterization, by the near-IR hyperspectral microscope MicrOmega within the ISAS/JAXA curation center, of the samples returned from the Bennu asteroid by the OSIRIS-REx mission. We compare these samples to those from Ryugu, analyzed with the same instrument and at the same facility, using gram-scale quantities of material. We demonstrate that Bennu and Ryugu samples exhibit similar near-IR diagnos…

Evidence: 53 • authority: 92

Hydrothermal alteration of Ryugu from a disruptive impact recorded in a returned sample.. Samples returned from C-type asteroid (162173) Ryugu by JAXA's Hayabusa2 spacecraft provide material free of terrestrial alteration for analysis. Previous work shows that Ryugu was aqueously altered below 100 °C under neutral to alkaline fluid conditions. Such low-temperature alteration was unexpected based on spacecraft observations which indicated that Ryugu's surface may be thermally altered. Here we show that sulfides in a single particle (A0016) returned by the Hayabusa2 mission are unlike any previously described from Ryugu. The presence and compositions of violarite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, pentla…

Evidence: 53 • authority: 72

98943 Torifune (provisional designation 2001 CC21) is an Apollo-type near-Earth asteroid with a diameter of about 450 metres (1,500 feet). It was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey at Socorro, New Mexico, United States on 3 February 2001. It was a flyby target of JAXA's Hayabusa2 spacecraft as a part of its extended mission, which approached as close as 744 m (0.462 mi) from the center of the asteroid on 5 July 2026. Observations by Hayabusa2 have shown that Torifune is a contact binary asteroid. Telescope observations from Earth had previously indicated that Torifune is an elongated S-type asteroid with a rocky, weathered surface composed mostly of the s…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Asteroid mining is the hypothetical and technically possible extraction of materials from asteroids and other minor planets, including near-Earth objects. Research missions focused on asteroid sample return, including Hayabusa, Hayabusa2, OSIRIS-REx, and Tianwen-2, illustrate the challenges of collecting ore from space using current technology. As of 2024, around 127 grams of asteroid material have been successfully brought to Earth from space. Asteroid research missions are complex endeavors that yield a tiny amount of material: less than 100 milligrams for Hayabusa, 5.4 grams for Hayabusa2, and approximately 121.6 grams for OSIRIS-REx, with Tianwen-2 mission currently ongoing. These figur…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

A Mars sample-return (MSR) is a proposed mission to collect rock and dust samples on Mars and return them to Earth. Such a mission would allow more extensive analysis than that allowed by onboard sensors, focused on whether Mars once hosted life. Back contamination of Earth's biosphere from returned Martian samples has been raised but this risk is considered to be low. As of 2026, China National Space Administration's robotic dual-launch Tianwen-3 mission is planned for the December 2028–January 2029 Mars launch window. Roscosmos plans to launch Mars-Grunt in the 2030s. A JAXA proposal, Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) is aimed at returning samples from Phobos. The NASA-ESA Mars Sample Retur…

Evidence: — • authority: 92

Near-infrared spectral variation in Ryugu particles and implication for rapid space weathering by solar UV radiation.. The 2.7 µm absorption band, represented by OH groups, in the near-infrared reflectance spectra of primitive Solar System bodies could be an indicator of the cause and degree of space weathering. We compared the absorption bands of particles sampled from the surface (chamber A) and the excavated subsurface (chamber C) on the C-type asteroid Ryugu by the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission. We developed a fitting method using multiple Gaussians to precisely calculate the band's peak position and depth, providing more reliable information on space weathering effects. We found that the cham…