Sample Return Missions from Small Bodies - Hayabusa, Hayabusa2, and Beyond

This 48-minute lecture explores the significance of asteroid sample return missions in understanding the Solar System's origin and evolution. Discover the groundbreaking achievements of JAXA's Hayabusa mission, which returned samples from S-type asteroid Itokawa in 2010, and Hayabusa2, which delivered samples from C-type asteroid Ryugu in 2020. Professor Shogo Tachibana, a cosmochemistry expert from the University of Tokyo and JAXA, presents key findings from these samples, compares them with NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission samples from B-type asteroid Bennu, and discusses the scientific impact of small-body sample return missions. Learn about the future directions of sample return missions and their importance in planetary science from a researcher who led the Hayabusa2 sampler system development and initial analysis of the Ryugu samples.