The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed a series of operations for the second touchdown of Asteroid Explorer "Hayabusa2" on the Ryugu asteroid and the collection of its soil samples.

From the data sent from Hayabusa2, it has been confirmed that the touchdown sequence, including the discharge of a projectile for sampling, was completed successfully. Hayabusa2 is functioning normally, and thus the second touchdown ended with success.

はやぶさ２プロジェクト関係者の集合写真

Operation Control Room (ISAS) on July 11, 2019.　Image credit: ISAS/JAXA