The Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which visited asteroid Ryugu from June 2018 to November 2019, is on its way home with samples. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) received permission from the Australian government to land the sample capsule in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia. The landing is scheduled for December 6.

More samples, y’all. Of an asteroid. Japan has done this before, and I am still impressed and excited. We’ll update later this year, so stay tuned!

More Information

JAXA press release