Hayabusa2, sample return mission to near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu
Hayabusa2 is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese state space agency JAXA.
Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 December 2014 and rendezvoused in space with near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu on 27 June 2018. It surveyed the asteroid for a year and a half and took samples. It left the asteroid in November 2019 and returned the samples to Earth on 5 December 2020.
Its mission has now been extended through at least 2031, when it will rendezvous with the 1998 KY26 asteroid.
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