HAYABUSA 2

HAYABUSA 2 is no longer on orbit
HAYABUSA 2 is classified as:

Space & Earth Science

NORAD ID: 40319

Int'l Code: 2014-076A

Launch date: December 3, 2014
Source: Japan (JPN)
Launch site: TANEGASHIMA SPACE CENTER (TNSTA)
Decay date: 2020-12-05

HAYABUSA 2 is an asteroid sample return mission operated by the Japanese space agency, JAXA. It follows on from Hayabusa and addresses weak points learned from that mission. Hayabusa 2 is heading for asteroid 1999 JU3, a carbon-rich world just 900 meters—about 3,000 feet—across with a tenuous gravity field 60,000 times weaker than Earth's. Hayabusa 2's electrically-powered ion engines were upgraded to produce more thrust, and engineers installed a Ka-band antenna to beam data back to Earth at four times the rate possible on the first Hayabusa mission. The spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid in June 2018 after swinging by Earth late next year to get a boost to the mission's destination, which circles the sun between the orbits of Earth and Mars.