After reaching the asteroid on June 27, Hayabusa2 primarily observed Ryugu from “The Home Position,” which is a position about 65,617 feet (roughly 2,000 meters) away from the asteroid. Today, Hayabusa2 is descending to only 82 feet (25 meters) from the asteroid’s surface.
After this close brush, the spacecraft will retreat. This is the first of two touchdown rehearsals before “conjunction” — “when Ryugu is behind the Sun as seen from Earth,” Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks exciting activity in space, tweeted. During conjunction, it will be very difficult for the craft to communicate with Earth, so activity will slow down from November until January, McDowell added.
Hayabusa2’s incredible descent towards Ryugu has revealed a number of amazing images. In the image below, tweeted by the official JAXA Hayabusa2 account, you can see the spacecraft at about 115 feet (35 meters) from the asteroid, its shadow clear on Ryugu’s surface.
Minutes after this photo was taken, Hayabusa2 reached its targeted lowest altitude, and “applause erupted in the control room!” the official account tweeted.
