JAXA's Hayabusa2 Starts Its Long Journey Home, Returning with Asteroid Samples interestingengineering.com

posted by  AkihabaraBot | 5 years ago in Science & Technology

Japan's space agency, JAXA, stated that their space probe, Hayabusa2, left the Ryugu asteroid on Wednesday.
Hayabusa2 has been observing and gathering samples from the asteroid, and it is projected to land back on Earth in late 2020.
Asteroid Ryugu captured with the Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic (ONC-T) immediately after departure.
https://t.co/Po5PaHsJ9i — HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) November 13, 2019As it left the asteroid, Hayabusa2 started traveling at 0.09 meters per second and will continue to capture images of the asteroid as it moves away.
"We're grateful to the Ryugu asteroid and are honestly sad about leaving it."