![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2018\/06\/asteroid_ryugu\/17569767-2-eng-GB\/Asteroid_Ryugu_small.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\nAsteroid 162173 Ryugu\n<\/p>\n
\nAfter a 42-month journey, Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft arrived at asteroid 162173 Ryugu, 300 million km from Earth, on 27 June at 02:35 CEST (00:35 GMT).\n<\/p>\n
\nThis remarkable achievement was confirmed<\/a> when the spacecraft closed to just 20 km from the 1 km-diameter asteroid’s surface, having entered a critical phase of this ambitious mission.\n<\/p>\n \nThis image was taken on 24 June, as the craft nosed up to the asteroid, from a distance of about 40 km.\n<\/p>\n \nHayabusa2 aims to study Ryugu in detail, deposit a European and a series of Japanese landers on the surface and return a sample of ancient rock to Earth in 2020.\n<\/p>\n \n"Together with all of you, we have become the first eyewitnesses to see asteroid Ryugu. I feel this amazing honour as we proceed with the mission operations," said Yuichi Tsuda, project manager from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).\n<\/p>\n \nIn 2014-17, during Hayabusa2’s cruise phase from Earth to the asteroid, ESA’s deep-space ground station at Malarg\u00fce, Argentina \u2212 part of the Agency’s worldwide Estrack network<\/a> \u2212 provided crucial communication support to the mission.\n<\/p>\n \nIn July this year, Malarg\u00fce will resume support, providing one communication contact session per week together with ESA’s Cebreros station in Spain. Malarg\u00fce station will also support the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission, due for launch in the autumn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \nAsteroid 162173 Ryugu\n<\/p>\n \nAfter a 42-month journey, Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft arrived at asteroid 162173 Ryugu, 300 million km from Earth, on 27 June at 02:35 CEST (00:35 GMT).\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n