Snapping a series of pictures that revealed the asteroid’s shape. The asteroid of choice was 162173 Ryugu, or Ryugu for short. In Japanese it refers to a magical, underwater Dragon Palace.
Hayabusa-2 reached the asteroid Ryugu in June this year after a three-and-a-half-year journey. The 1km-wide space rock known formally as 162173 Ryugu belongs to a particularly primitive type of ...
which goes by the formal name of 162173 Ryugu. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) spacecraft will then survey the object for a year-and-a-half, during which it will aim to deploy ...
In June 2018, Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission reached asteroid 162173 Ryugu. It studied the asteroid for about 15 months, deploying small rovers and a lander, before gathering a sample and returning it ...