Asteroid probe 6 months away from its destination www3.nhk.or.jp

posted by  Yubi | 6 years, 11 months ago in Science & Technology

Japan's space agency says its asteroid probe Hayabusa2 is on course to reach its target between Earth and Mars in about 6 months.

JAXA told reporters on Thursday that the probe is flying at around 24 kilometers per second, and has travelled 2.7 billion kilometers so far, with less than 6 million kilometers left to go.

Hayabusa2 was launched in 2014 to land on the asteroid Ryugu and collect rock samples from its surface. Scientists believe such samples could provide clues about the origin of life.