Hayabusa 2

Samples taken from the near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu continue to provide scientists with important insights. The discovery of the nucleobase uracil, a part of RNA, in the samples, hints at the potential beginnings of life on our planet.

A six-year round trip to an asteroid has yielded unprecedented insights into the formation of the solar system. Scientists have analyzed samples returned from asteroid Ryugu, finding a detailed history starting with the oldest material ever found.

It's rare that gravel gets scientists so excited, but these are no ordinary rocks. This is the first glimpse of the samples returned to Earth by Hayabusa2 after its 5.24-billion-km round trip to asteroid Ryugu.

It's been remarkable year for space exploration, marked by a line up of ambitious new interplanetary missions, industry firsts, and the reemergence of the US in the field of human spaceflight.

The re-entry capsule carrying samples of the asteroid Ryugu collected by Japan's Hayabusa2 deep-space probe has returned to Earth and been recovered after blazing a fiery path in the night sky over Australia.

Data collected by Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft during its historic touchdown on asteroid Ryugu has revealed surprising characteristics of the ancient space rock, including signs of a close encounter with the Sun.

Science stands still for no one, and with a new year comes a new calendar of exciting events in spaceflight and exploration. New Atlas rounds up some of the most important milestones to look forward to in 2020.

JAXA's Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer is on its way home to Earth. The unmanned deep-space probe today fired its chemical thrusters to push it away from the asteroid Ryugu at a relative velocity of 9.2 cm/s (3.6 in/s), with the successful burn confirmed by mission control shortly after.

The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft has sent a third and final rover toward asteroid Ryugu, as mission control begins to think about bringing the probe and its precious samples home.

​​The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has released a video showing the climactic moments of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft’s second descent to the surface of asteroid Ryugu, which took place on July 11, 2019.

The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2 has successfully pulled off a second touchdown on the surface of the distant asteroid Ryugu. The risky dive saw the probe collect material that had been exposed during the creation of an artificial crater on April 5.

The Japanese probe Hayabusa collected samples from the asteroid Itokawa and returned them to Earth in 2010. Now researchers from Arizona State University have discovered traces of water in those samples, adding weight to the idea that much of Earth’s water may have come from asteroid impacts.