Japan Probe Made Closest-Ever Asteroid Flyby: Space Agency
The probe passed within 400 metres of Torifune and used onboard laser ranging twice to improve asteroid tracking and planetary defence methods.
- On Thursday, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced that Hayabusa2 reached 400 metres from asteroid Torifune on July 5, marking the closest approach ever recorded in such a mission. The fridge-sized probe traveled at more than 18,000 kilometres per hour.
- Launched in 2014 targeting asteroid Ryugu, Hayabusa2 returned precious samples to Earth in 2020 from the asteroid known as 'dragon palace' in Japanese. En route to its 2031 rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26, the spacecraft encountered Torifune in early July.
- Hayabusa2 surpassed a Chinese probe's previous record of 770 metres from an asteroid's surface. Using its onboard LiDAR laser altimeter, the spacecraft fired laser pulses twice during the approach, sending measurements every second from four minutes before closest approach until one minute after.
- Images released by JAXA revealed Torifune's unexpected snowman-like appearance. Laser ranging data enables scientists to determine asteroid size, position, velocity, and orbital path, advancing the high-precision guidance systems JAXA is developing for planetary defence.
- Hayabusa2 will attempt a 2031 rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26, a tiny 36-foot body, approaching within 0.62 miles at 10,800 mph to gather deflection data. This builds on NASA's 2022 DART test, which successfully altered asteroid Dimorphos's orbit.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Japan achieved a record in space exploration by bringing its Hayabusa2 probe to just 400 meters from an asteroid, in a mission that strengthens efforts to protect the Earth from future impacts.
On 5 July, the Hayabusa2 vessel, the size of a refrigerator, approached the Torifune asteroid at 400 metres, a world record.
A Japanese probe flew 400 metres from a near-Earth asteroid this month, marking the closest approach ever recorded on such a mission, reported the Japanese space agency Jaxa. The Hayabusa2 probe, the size of a refrigerator, flew over the Torifune asteroid on July 5 on a mission that demonstrated the ability to divert a potentially dangerous space rock from the Earth. At a speed of more than 18,000 kilometres per hour, the probe reached 400 metre…
Japanese Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Nails the World’s First Laser Ranging of an Asteroid During Flyby
A Japanese spacecraft that departed Earth more than a decade ago managed to do something no other spacecraft before it did: perform laser ranging during an asteroid flyby. And this could have major implications for our species’ planetary defense efforts. Laser ranging is a method used to measure the distance to a target with a high degree of accuracy. This is done by sending laser pulses at a target to see how long it takes bef... (continue rea…
A Japanese space probe has flown within 400 meters of an Earth-crossing asteroid. This is an asteroid that crosses Earth's orbit. Never before has a space probe flown so close to an asteroid.
The Hayabusa2 spacecraft, about the size of a refrigerator, made a close flyby of the asteroid Torifune on July 5, demonstrating the ability to deflect a potentially hazardous space rock from Earth's trajectory. Traveling at over 18,000 kilometers per hour, the probe approached to within 400 meters of the asteroid's surface and 744 meters of its center, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Thursday. This exceeded the agency's …
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