The re-entry capsule & parachute from Hayabusa2 where it was spotted in the Woomera desert in Australia (JAXA).

Helping to bring an asteroid home

(A) DCAM3 image of the ejecta created during the SCI impact, with four separate rays of material. (B) ONC optical image of the impact site, with numbers corresponding to the ejecta rays in (A). (C). Change in reflectivity before and after the SCI impact. Darker regions are thought to indicate material ejected from below the surface. (Figure 4 in Arakawa et al., Science 2020.)

Creating a crater to constrain the age of an asteroid’s surface

Temperature distribution over the shape model of asteroid Ryugu, using data taken by the Hayabusa2 TIR thermal imager on August 1, 2018 (Okada et al, Nature 2020).

Are primitive asteroids “fluffy”?

Is the history of Mars etched in the grains of its moons?

Artist impression of Dragonfly on the surface of Titan. (Johns Hopkins APL)

Measuring the waves through Titan: ISAS builds a seismometer for NASA’s Dragonfly mission

Microdroplets containing a fluorescent dye, showing the capability of microdroplets to act as primitive compartments (credit: Tony Jia, ELSI)

Building the first cells for the origins of life

Artist impression of the MMX spacecraft orbiting Phobos. Yellow indicates regions where cold flow is expected to be strongest (credit: Baresi, Ballouz, JAXA).

The Shifting Sands of Phobos

This artist’s conception shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft extending its sampling arm as it moves in to make contact with the asteroid Bennu. Credits: NASA/GSFC

The X-factor: The collaboration between Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx

Full Earth Rise observed by SELENE/Kaguya on 2008/04/05.

At the threshold of a lunar renaissance: The SELENE mission, 10 years later

Artist impression of Hayabusa2 above the Earth. [Akihiro Ikeshita / JAXA]

Planetary Protection and Our Search for Life