Close-up of Asteroid Ryugu
Close-up of Asteroid Ryugu
Between June 2018 and October 2019, the approximately one-kilometre-diameter asteroid 162173 Ryugu was the target of the Japanese Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which was launched in 2014. The 'Peregrine Falcon' examined Ryugu from different distances with several cameras, spectrometers and a laser altimeter. Small landing modules also directly explored the surface. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) provided the MASCOT landing module, which was equipped with four experiments from Germany and France. Ryugu is a Near Earth Object (NEO); the asteroid's orbit comes close to that of Earth, but there is no danger of collision. The observations of Ryugu also serve to characterise such carbon-rich C-type asteroids, the most common group of minor bodies. Hayabusa2 is currently on its way back to Earth, carrying samples from two sites on Ryugu in a sealed capsule, which are due to be recovered in Australia in late 2020.