The daring asteroid landing came eight months after the Hayabusa-2 spacecraft first approached Ryugu in June 2018. Last night, the Japanese spacecraft achieved the impossible and touched down on an asteroid some 210 million miles (342 million km) from Earth. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed Hayabusa-2 successfully collected surface rock samples from the asteroid. The mission involved firing a heavy bullet into space rock to dislodge bits and pieces of asteroid rubble for Hayabusa-2 to suck up.
The moment of the spacecraft’s landing was caught on camera as JAXA’s mission control room in Japan was streamed live to the world online.
Breathtaking images snapped by Hayabusa-2 show the probe’s shadow on the surface of Ryugu during descent.
In the initial stages of the space probe’s approach to Ryugu, Hayabusa-2 beamed back images of the asteroid to Earth.
But the mind-boggling distances involved meant JAXA’s crew had to suffer a 19-minute delay in-between transmissions.
The spacecraft’s antennae also faced away from Earth, meaning Hayabusa’s telemetry was unavailable, which left controllers in the dark during the landing.
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However, once the asteroid landing was complete and confirmed by the probe’s low-power transmitters, Hayabusa-2 project Manager Yuichi Tsuda said: “We made a successful touchdown.
“We made the ideal touchdown in the best conditions.”
Hayabusa landed on Ryugu about 35 minutes ahead of schedule, catching many of its operators off guard.
During the descent, the spacecraft was falling towards Ryugu at a speed of around 35 inches (90cm) per second.
Heaps of praise and messages of support from the scientific community immediately flooded social media.
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Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May posted on Instagram: “Hurrah! Brilliant success in touchdown on Ryugu!”
Dr May included in his message the Japanese words Subarashi desu, which mean splendid or wonderful.
And in a dedicated video clip shared during the JAXA live broadcast, the musician said: “I have also been following Japanese astronomy and Japanese astro-endeavours. I was looking at Hayabusa-1, the mission to Itokawa from a distance, and happy to find some images, which I could make into stereos.
“Now, I’m hugely happy to be in a sense part of the Hayabusa family because I’ve been able to process some images from Ryugu and this has been a thrill and it has been a labour of love for me to be able to contribute something.
“So, I’m here to wish you absolutely the best of luck in this incredibly delicate manoeuvre to touch down on Ryugu.
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“I can’t wait to see it happen, I know it will be an absolute success. My heart is with you and give us more 3D and give us more astro-adventure. We love you Hayabusa-2.”
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted: “Congratulations to JAXA on a successful touchdown and retrieval.
NASA is looking forward to comparing data and sharing samples with Japan from our own asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, when it returns from Asteroid Bennu in 2023.”
And the Planetary Society, chaired by TV scientist Bill Nye, congratulated JAXA on the monumental achievement.
The Planetary Society wrote: “Go, go Hayabusa2. Congratulations to JAXA and the entire Hayabusa2 team.
“The Japanese spacecraft just successfully touched down and fired a bullet to sample asteroid Ryugu 210 million miles (342 million km) from Earth.”
JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 will remain in orbit around Ryugu for the foreseeable future and is expected to drop an exploration rover onto its surface in the coming months.
The Japanese space agency does not expect the Ryugu rock samples to return to Earth before 2020.