---
title: "Japan Just Landed a Robot Spacecraft on an Asteroid"
description: "## Touchdown"
date: "2019-02-22"
modified: "2019-02-22"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/hayabusa2-asteroid-ryugu-collect-samples"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "asteroid"
  - "hayabusa2"
  - "JAXA"
  - "ryugu"
---

# Japan Just Landed a Robot Spacecraft on an Asteroid

![Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 just touched down on the surface of Ryugu for the third time to collect samples after firing a bullet at its surface.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/hayabusa2-asteroid-ryugu-collect-samples.png>)
*\<em\>Image: JAXA\</em\>*

## Touchdown

Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 touched down on the surface of Ryugu Friday — a kilometer-wide asteroid with an orbit that periodically brings it close to Earth as it circles the Sun.

And the probe has already completed the first big step of its primary mission: collect tiny rock samples to send home.

https://twitter.com/OSIRISREx/status/1098721103722176512

Upon landing, Hayabusa2 [fired a metal bullet](<https://futurism.com/japanese-spacecraft-hayabusa2-bullet-asteroid>) into the rock and scooped up some samples using its on-board "sampling horn."

https://twitter.com/haya2e\_jaxa/status/1098690164556292096

There was a delay of several hours while the Earth-bound team waited for the spacecraft to resume communications after firing the bullet — the connection broke off when the spacecraft made contact.

https://twitter.com/haya2e\_jaxa/status/1097417737243107328

## Hop Around

It's not the first time the spacecraft has landed on Ryugu. It released [two "hopping" rovers](<https://phys.org/news/2018-09-japan-space-probe-rovers-asteroid.html>) in September of last year for its first visit and a third rover on a [second mission in October](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mascot-asteroid-lander>).

Hayabusa2 will swoop in two more times to collect additional samples later this year. The second approach will hopefully roll out the same way today's mission did. On its third sample collection mission, the spacecraft will fire a copper projectile into Ryugu to collect samples from the subsurface.

The collected samples will then return to Earth in a special return capsule at the end of next year.

**READ MORE:** [Japanese Spacecraft Successfully Snags Sample of Asteroid Ryugu](<https://www.space.com/japanese-asteroid-probe-lands-ryugu.html>) \[*Space.com*\]

***More on Hayabusa2: [A Japanese Spacecraft Is About to Shoot an Asteroid With a Bullet](<https://futurism.com/japanese-spacecraft-hayabusa2-bullet-asteroid>)***

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)