- ARAB NEWS
- 30 Apr 2025
Since 1975
TOKYO: Japan's Hayabusa2 unmanned spacecraft will leave the asteroid Ryugu on Wednesday after completing difficult missions there, science minister Koichi Hagiuda said Tuesday.
If everything goes as planned, Hayabusa2 will return to Earth around December 2020 and drop a capsule containing Ryugu samples.
"We are looking forward to seeing its safe return and gaining new knowledge," Hagiuda told a press conference. "We hear that (the spacecraft) is very likely to have collected precious samples that will help unravel the mystery of the solar system and the origin of life."
Hayabusa2 was launched on an H-2A rocket in December 2014 and spent three and a half years to reach the asteroid.
The spacecraft landed on Ryugu twice and collected samples. It also succeeded in creating an artificial crater on the asteroid, the first such achievement ever.
JIJI Press
