Challenges of Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2 and Future

Abstract

Hayabusa2 is the second asteroid sample return mission in the world following Hayabusa. The target asteroid is (162173) Ryugu, which is a C–type near–Earth asteroid. The most important purpose of this mission is to obtain clues for investigating the origin of the life and water on the Earth. Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 Dec. 2014, and arrived at Ryugu on 27 June 2018, and returned to the Earth on 6 Dec 2020. This six–year mission was perfect, and we were able to get 5.4 g samples of Ryugu. When the samples were analyzed, they were found to contain a great variety of organic matters. However, the origin of life has yet to be elucidated. After returning to the Earth, Hayabusa2 left the Earth again. Since the status of the spacecraft was fine, we have extended the mission, which is called “Hayabusa2 extended mission (Hayabusa2#)”. In the extended mission, Hayabusa2 will flyby (98943) 2001 CC21 in July 2026 and will rendezvous with 1998 KY26 in July 2031. Hayabusa2 has started for the new challenges.