Hayabusa2–Sample return and kinetic impact mission to near-earth asteroid Ryugu

Abstract The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the asteroid sample return spacecraft “Hayabusa2” on December 3, 2014. Hayabusa2 will reach the C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu in 2018, and return back to the Earth in 2020. Sample collections from three sites, four surface rovers deployment and a 4 MJ-class kinetic impact crater forming are planned in the 1.5 years of the asteroid-proximity operation. The mission objective of Hayabusa2 has three aspects, science, engineering and exploration, all of which would be expanded by the successful round-trip journey. The objectives and technologies used in this mission is not a direct solution for the future planetary defense, but should contribute to this field by increasing general asteroid knowledge and enhancing human capabilities of small body-surface access/roving/sampling/impacting. This paper describes the outline of the Hayabusa2 mission, overviews the kinetic impact technology as an example of planetary defense-related technologies and the current flight status after the two and a half years of the interplanetary cruise.