Ryugu : NPR

Japanese Capsule Containing Bits Of An Asteroid Returns To Earth

This computer-generated image shows the Hayabusa2 spacecraft above the asteroid Ryugu. This weekend, the sample collected by the spacecraft arrived on Earth after a six-year mission. ISAS/JAXA via AP hide caption

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ISAS/JAXA via AP

Space

Japanese Capsule Containing Bits Of An Asteroid Returns To Earth

December 5, 2020 • The sample collected by the spacecraft Hayabusa2 caps a six-year mission to Ryugu. Researchers hope it will offer clues to "the secrets of the birth of the solar system and the birth of life."

Touch And Go: NASA's Delicate Mission to Sample Asteroid Bennu

An artist's rendering shows NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending toward the asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid's surface. NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona hide caption

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NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Short Wave

Touch And Go: NASA's Delicate Mission to Sample Asteroid Bennu

November 3, 2020 • A NASA spacecraft sent out to collect a sample of rock and dust from an asteroid has nabbed so much that it's created an unexpected problem. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce shares a cautionary tale of a scientific mission that was almost too successful.

Touch And Go: NASA's Delicate Mission to Sample Asteroid Bennu

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Japan (Very Carefully) Drops Plastic Explosives Onto An Asteroid

Japan's Hayabusa2, seen in this illustration, has been probing the asteroid Ryugu since 2018. The spacecraft is collecting samples that will be returned to Earth. JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita hide caption

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JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita

Space

Japan (Very Carefully) Drops Plastic Explosives Onto An Asteroid

April 5, 2019 • The device was detonated as part of a mission to better understand the origins of planets.

Japan (Very Carefully) Drops Plastic Explosives Onto An Asteroid

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Probe Lands On Ryugu Asteroid In Latest Success For International Group

Roughly the size of a shoebox, the Mascot lander safely settled onto the surface of the Ryugu asteroid. It's seen here in an artist's rendering of the craft released by Germany's DLR aerospace agency. DLR hide caption

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DLR

Space

Probe Lands On Ryugu Asteroid In Latest Success For International Group

October 3, 2018 • On Twitter, the craft echoed Alice in Wonderland, declaring: "And then I found myself in a place like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery and danger!"