Hayabusa2 Ready for 1st Landing on Asteroid in Late Feb.

January 9, 2019

Tokyo--The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said Tuesday that its Hayabusa2 spacecraft will touch down on asteroid Ryugu to collect samples in the week of Feb. 18.

Between September and October last year, JAXA carried out a total of three rehearsals for a landing at prospective areas near the equator of Ryugu.

In late October, the spacecraft descended to a point 12 meters above the asteroid surface, successfully dropping an object that will be a guide at the time of the actual landing.

As the surface of Ryugu was found to be rockier than expected, it took longer to select safe landing areas.

JAXA put off the first touchdown from the initially planned period of October last year and conducted more surveys of the asteroid surface.

After the survey, JAXA chose two prospective landing sites--the B1 area 12 meters wide and 20 meters long and the E1 area 6 meters in width and 10 meters in length. Jiji Press