Hayabusa2 (Ryugu sample return)
Turn Ryugu in 3D: the asteroid Hayabusa2 sampled, from JAXA's shape model
JAXA asteroid sample-return spacecraft launched on 3 December 2014 on H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 26. It arrived at near-Earth asteroid Ryugu in June 2018, touched down on 22 February 2019 to collect surface material and again on 11 July 2019 to collect subsurface material, and returned a capsule that JAXA recovered in the Woomera Prohibited Area, Australia, on 6 December 2020. JAXA's curation team determined the total returned sample mass as 5.424 ± 0.217 g. JAXA states that the samples contained organic material such as amino acids as well as water, and a peer-reviewed initial analysis of 17 returned particles (Nakamura et al., Science 2023) reports carbon dioxide-bearing water inclusions and phyllosilicates and carbonates formed by aqueous alteration. These are laboratory science findings, not resource extraction. The same spacecraft continues on JAXA's Hayabusa2 Extended Mission: it flew past asteroid Torifune on 5 July 2026 (closest approach about 400 m from the surface, per JAXA) and is to rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031.
Objective. Collect surface and subsurface samples from C-type asteroid Ryugu and return them to Earth for laboratory study of Solar System materials. No JAXA source reviewed states a resource or ISRU objective; the resource-relevant findings (water and water-altered, hydrated minerals in the returned samples) come from JAXA's sample description and peer-reviewed initial analyses.
Listed for scientific context. This mission published a resource finding but is not counted as a resource mission.
Facts
- Kind
- Spacecraft
- Mission type
- Sample return
- Target
- Near-Earth asteroidAsteroid (162173) RyuguWhat NASA/JPL lists for 162173 Ryugu (1999 JU3)
- Launch
- 2014-12-03
- Launch vehicle
- H-IIA
- Phase
- EndedSample-return mission completed: ISAS/JAXA (2020-12-06) reports recovery of the re-entry capsule in the Woomera Prohibited Area on 6 December 2020, and the JAXA curation page gives a total sample mass of 5.424±0.217 g. The same spacecraft continues on the Hayabusa2 Extended Mission, which is outside this sample-return record's scope (as OSIRIS-APEX is for OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer)): JAXA reported the flyby of asteroid Torifune on 5 July 2026 (releases of 2026-07-06 and 2026-07-30) and gives a rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031 as the extended mission's final goal (release of 2026-06-09).
- Outcome
- SuccessBasis: agency statement
- Why it is included
- Published resource finding (science context)
Outcome statement (agency statement)
The mission explored asteroid Ryugu, delivering samples from Ryugu to Earth on 6 December 2020.
What comes next
This mission has ended.
Participants
Operators, payload owners, carriers and customers are recorded separately.
| Organization | Role |
|---|---|
| Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency | Operator |
Resources and evidence
| Resource | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Regolith | Sampled |
| Volatiles | Sampled |
Open evidence gaps
- No JAXA page reviewed (project page, 2026 press releases, curation page) states a resource or ISRU objective for Hayabusa2; inclusion rests on peer-reviewed findings of water inclusions and aqueously altered, hydrated minerals in the returned samples.
- No bulk water content (for example in wt.%) of the returned samples was taken from a cited source; the record states only the presence of water inclusions and hydrated minerals.
- The open-access nature.com copies of the 2021-22 Nature Astronomy initial-analysis papers (for example Yada et al., doi 10.1038/s41550-021-01550-6) redirected to a nature.com cookie/authorization flow and were not read; the Noguchi et al. paper is cited through its open-access copy on PubMed Central (PMC9943745), which the project's fetcher captured in full on 2026-10-30.
- Exact day of arrival at Ryugu is not given in the JAXA release cited (June 2018 only).
- The H-IIA launch-service provider is not recorded as a participant; no organization record exists for it and no source reviewed names it.
- The JAXA project page still lists '2001 CC21 in 2026' as the extended mission's first target; no source reviewed links that designation to the name Torifune, so the record uses JAXA's 2026 name Torifune only.
Sources
21 excerpts from 9 publicationsOne web address counts as one publication.
Hayabusa2 was launched on December 3, 2014.
H-IIA Launch Vehicle No.26
Ryugu (C-type, Near Earth Object)
On February 22, 2019, Hayabusa2 successfully touched down on asteroid Ryugu and collected samples from the surface.
On July 11, Hayabusa2 went on to make its second touchdown and succeeded in collecting subsurface material.
the samples contained organic material such as amino acids as well as water.
help unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the materials of our Solar System
Hayabusa2 itself is continuing its journey and has entered into an extended mission.
The spacecraft arrived at asteroid Ryugu in June 2018
The final goal of the Extended Mission is to rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031 and conduct exploration activities.
The mission explored asteroid Ryugu, delivering samples from Ryugu to Earth on 6 December 2020.
successfully conducted a flyby of asteroid Torifune, the first asteroid exploration of the Hayabusa2 Extended Mission
The minimum distance to the surface of Torifune was approximately 400 m.
On December 6, 2020, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has recovered the body of the capsule, the heat shields, and the parachute of the "Hayabusa2" re-entry capsule in the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA).
the total weight of the samples was determined to be 5.424±0.217 g
suggesting the presence of hydroxyl groups, organic material, and carbonate minerals.
water inclusions are present within a pyrrhotite crystal
The samples are rich in phyllosilicates and carbonates, which formed through aqueous alteration reactions
We analyzed 17 Ryugu samples measuring 1 to 8 millimeters.
A dehydrated space-weathered skin cloaking the hydrated interior of Ryugu
162173 Ryugu (1999 JU3)
Cite this record
SpaceMiningData, “Hayabusa2 (Ryugu sample return)”, dataset version a00fa2c68a45, built 2026-11-11, https://spaceminingdata.com/missions/jaxa-hayabusa2.html. Record checked 2026-10-30.