“Hayabusa 2” successfully launched at 1:22 p.m. on December 3, 2014. It has just began its 6-year and 5.3 billion kilometers journey that will take it to asteroid 1999 JU3 and back to Earth. Like its predecessor “Hayabusa”, it is an asteroid sample return mission that will deploy a mini-lander, “Minerva 2” on the asteroid to survey its surface. “Hayabusa 2” will collect afterwards sample material from asteroid 1999 JU3 and will send them back to Earth. Delivery is scheduled for December 2020.

“Minerva 2”, which stands for Micro/Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid, is the successor of “Minerva” of the “Hayabusa” mission. Like its predecessor, “Minerva 2” is not a wheeled rover but will land and hop around the asteroid’s surface. It will collect photographs and temperature readings. “Minerva 2” has been developed in the frame of a university consortium among which was Tohoku University.