JAXA Shares Video Of Hayabusa2's Ryugu Landing

Japan's JAXA space agency launched the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft way back in 2014 with its mission being to land on an asteroid called Ryugu and blow a hole in it. Last September the Hayabusa2 spacecraft sent back the highest resolution images ever seen of Ryugu. Late last month Hayabusa2 finally landed on Ryugu.

That landing meant the primary mission to blow a hole in the asteroid and study samples could be conducted after many years of waiting. The projectile that would kick up the samples was talked about last month.

JAXA has now shared a video of the landing of Hayabusa 2 and what it looked like when the spacecraft touched down on the surface of the asteroid. The video, which can be seen below, was taken on February 22. The instrument that captured the video is the small monitor camera called CAM-H, and the video playback is five times faster than the actual time.

A surprising amount of debris and dust was kicked up during touchdown JAXA says that the small monitor camera that captured the video was installed and produced using donations from the public. Note that JAXA is saying this video is of the touchdown, not of the firing of its projectile.

As soon as Hayabusa2 touches down and the debris starts flying, it is off again into space. A video of the firing of the projectile was shown off last month.