---
title: "Japanese Probe Returns to Site of Asteroid Bombing, Takes Pics"
description: "On Wednesday, Hayabusa-2, the Japanese space probe that landed on then bombed and asteroid, once more touched down to collect samples and take pictures."
date: "2019-07-12"
modified: "2019-07-12"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/japanese-probe-asteroid-bombing-pics"
categories:
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "asteroid"
  - "hayabusa-2"
  - "robots"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Japanese Probe Returns to Site of Asteroid Bombing, Takes Pics

![On Wednesday, Hayabusa-2, the Japanese space probe that landed on then bombed and asteroid, once more touched down to collect samples and take pictures.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/japanese-probe-asteroid-bombing-pics.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: JAXA/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Repeat Offender

Hayabusa-2, the Japanese space probe that spent the last several months visiting, harvesting, and [bombing the crap](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/japan-releases-video-asteroid-bombing>) out of a distant asteroid, just successfully touched down again to collect more samples.

On Wednesday, Hayabusa-2 [landed once more](<https://futurism.com/hayabusa2-asteroid-ryugu-collect-samples>) on the asteroid Ryugu to collect rock samples from a 10-meter crater that it had [blasted out](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/japan-bomb-asteroid-science>) back in April and to snap some pictures, [according to *Business Insider*](<https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-lands-spacecraft-on-ryugu-asteroid-2019-7>). The mission on track for a scheduled flight back to Earth at the end of 2019, at which point the samples could help scientists better understand how our solar system came to be.

## Incriminating Evidence

When Hayabusa-2 was done collecting samples from Ryugu, it once more took off and snapped some photos of the landing site, [according to tweets](<https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1149223290684108801>) from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1149223290684108801

The spacecraft also took a series of [before-and-after pictures](<https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1149225624105410561>) when it approached then left Ryugu's surface, revealing a clear look at the rubble-filled crater that Hayabusa-2 bombed as well as all of the debris that was kicked up off the surface from the probe's launch.

https://twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa/status/1149225624105410561

As of now, Hayabusa-2 is once more sitting in orbit near Ryugu, where *BI* reports that it will await the command to fly back to Earth.

**READ MORE:** [A Japanese spacecraft has landed on an asteroid after blasting it with a bullet. The mission will bring back rock samples to Earth.](<https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-lands-spacecraft-on-ryugu-asteroid-2019-7>) \[*Business Insider*\]

**More on Hayabusa-2:** *[Here Are The First Photos Japan's Robot Landers Sent Back from an Asteroid](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ryugu-robots-asteroid-images>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)