Question 1

True or false: The Hayabusa2 mission returned samples from a comet, not an asteroid.

Accepted Answer

False. Hayabusa2 visited the C-type asteroid Ryugu, not a comet. It returned surface and subsurface samples from this near-Earth asteroid.

Question 2

True or false: The Hayabusa2 spacecraft is still operational and now on an extended mission to visit a second asteroid.

Accepted Answer

True. After returning samples from Ryugu in 2020, Hayabusa2 began an extended mission. It is en route to fly by asteroid 2001 CC21 in 2026 and then rendezvous with 1998 KY26, confirming it is operational and visiting a second asteroid.

Question 3

True or false: Hayabusa2 used ion engines for most of its interplanetary travel, a technology that was also used on the original Hayabusa.

Accepted Answer

True. Hayabusa2 employed microwave-discharge ion thrusters for its long interplanetary cruise, a propulsion method also successfully used by the original Hayabusa spacecraft.

Question 4

True or false: Hayabusa2 fired a copper impactor into Ryugu to create an artificial crater and collect subsurface material.

Accepted Answer

True. The Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) shot a 2-kg copper projectile at Ryugu, creating a ~10-meter crater for fresh subsurface sampling.

Question 5

True or false: Hayabusa2's sample return capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean, just like Apollo missions.

Accepted Answer

False. The capsule landed in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia, not in the ocean, on December 6, 2020.

Question 6

True or false: Hayabusa2 was the first mission ever to return samples from a carbon-rich asteroid.

Accepted Answer

True. Hayabusa2, launched by JAXA, returned samples from the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu in 2020, making it the first mission to bring back material from a C-type asteroid.

Question 7

True or false: Hayabusa2 carried a shoebox-sized lander named MASCOT that hopped across Ryugu using a rotating mass.

Accepted Answer

True. MASCOT, roughly the size of a shoebox, was a lander aboard Hayabusa2. It had no wheels but used an internal motorized arm to shift its center of mass, allowing it to hop across asteroid Ryugu's surface.

Question 8

True or false: Hayabusa2 carried two tiny rovers, each weighing about 1 kilogram, that hopped on asteroid Ryugu.

Accepted Answer

True. The MINERVA-II1 rovers, Rover-1A and Rover-1B, each weighed 1.1 kg and used internal motors to hop across Ryugu's surface, becoming the first rovers to explore an asteroid this way.

Hayabusa 2 Trivia Questions