The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 will return to Earth next December to deliver its asteroid samples to us. But that won't be the end of the story. JAXA has just announced the extension of the mission and targets a new asteroid.
A few years ago, JAXA, the Japanese space agency, set itself an ambitious goal:to collect asteroid samples and bring them back to Earth. With this in mind, the agency developed a probe named Hayabusa2 which, in 2019, landed on Ryugu twice. This rock, 900 meters in diameter, evolves more than 350 million kilometers from Earth.
Last November, the Japanese probe finally began its journey back to Earth. Ryugu samples are expected to land at Woomera Range Complex on December 6th . This South Australian facility is run by the Royal Australian Air Force.
Researchers are obviously eager to be able to analyze these extraterrestrial materials. These samples, real time capsules almost unchanged for 4.5 billion years, could indeed shed considerable light on the formation of the Solar System , as well as on the role played by these carbon-rich objects in the appearance of life on Earth .
Initially, the mission was to end there, but JAXA ultimately decided otherwise. After delivering its precious loot, Hayabusa2 will indeed head for a new target:asteroid 1998 KY26 . This rapidly rotating rock, about thirty meters in diameter sits between the orbits of Mars and Earth. The spacecraft should be able to reach it in 2031 .
According to JAXA, getting closer to such an object could help scientists prepare for possible collisions of similar-sized objects with Earth . In their statement, Japanese officials make particular reference to the Chelyabinsk meteorite, about half the size of 1998 KY26, which exploded over Russia in 2013.
This extended mission will also include a high-speed flyby of another object, asteroid 2001 CC21. Finally, on the way, one of Hayabusa2's instruments might also be able to spot dips in the brightness of bright stars potentially betraying the existence of a transiting exoplanet .
As a reminder, NASA's OSIRIS-REx probe is also scheduled to make its very first attempt to sample the asteroid Bennu on October 20. If all goes as planned, these samples will return to Earth September 24, 2023 . The capsule should normally land in the desert of Utah, United States.
