Ryugu Samples Reveal Asteroid’s Origin Story

An analysis of grains sampled from the asteroid Ryugu finds that the parent body likely formed about two million years after the formation of the solar system.

IMAGE: Sample catcher chamber A from the first touchdown of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, captured by an optical microscope. Many particles larger than 1 millimeter were found in both chambers A and C. The particles in chamber C are typically bigger than those in chamber A. Chamber C material was gathered during the second touchdown, which is expected to contain subsurface material ejected from the creation of the artificial crater created during the first touchdown. CREDIT: JAXA

Didymos and Dimorphos may have all the current media attention, but let’s not forget that Hayabusa2 collected two samples…