Ryugu

Asteroid Ryugu Contained Bonus Comet Particles

On December 5th, 2020, Japan's Hayabusa2 mission successfully returned samples it had collected from the Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) 162173 Ryugu…

2 months ago

Under Some Conditions, Comets Could Deliver Organic Molecules to Planets

New research shows how comets could deliver the building blocks for life in systems with close-orbiting planets, aiding in the…

4 months ago

Asteroid Ryugu Contains Niacin (aka Vitamin B3)

In December 2020, JAXA’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft delivered a pristine sample of otherworldly dust and rock from asteroid Ryugu to Earth.…

1 year ago

Asteroid Ryugu Might Actually Be a Dead Comet

In 2014, the Japanese Space Agency JAXA launched the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft to visit asteroid Ryugu. It arrived at the…

2 years ago

OSIRIS-REx Did One Last Close Flyby of Asteroid Bennu. It’s Almost Time to Come Home

After more than two years in orbit around asteroid Bennu, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to come home. It's bringing…

3 years ago

Some of Hayabusa2’s Samples are as Big as a Centimeter

A fireball hurtled across the sky on December 5th – the sample return capsule from the Hayabusa2 asteroid mission by…

3 years ago

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 Probe Drops Off Bits of an Asteroid and Heads for Its Next Target

Japan's Hayabusa 2 probe zoomed past Earth on December 5th and dropped off a capsule containing bits of an asteroid,…

3 years ago

It’s Time for Hayabusa-2 to Come Home

Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is on its way home. The asteroid-visiting, sample-return mission departed asteroid Ryugu (162173 Ryugu) on Wednesday,…

4 years ago

Hayabusa 2 Has Sent its Last Rover to Ryugu

Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission to asteroid Ryugu has reached one of its final milestones, if not its climax. The sample-return…

4 years ago

Asteroid Ryugu is a “Fragile Rubble Pile”

When Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft arrived at asteroid Ryugu in June 2018, it carried four small rovers with it. Hayabusa…

5 years ago