Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has returned breathtaking images of asteroid Torifune, a contact binary, after a daring close flyby. This mission was a result of months of debate between science and engineering teams, with the spacecraft pushing the limits of its capabilities. The flyby was so close that it was at the very edge of what the aging spacecraft was designed to conduct, with the closest distance being just 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the asteroid's center. This was a significant challenge, as the spacecraft's optics had been affected by dust from sampling Ryugu, and the team had to develop new software for onboard guidance. The result was stunning, up-close imagery of the dual-lobed Torifune, captured by the probe's Optical Navigation Camera Telescope (ONC-T). The Thermal Infrared Imager (TIR) also captured nine seconds of thermal imaging, independently confirming the contact binary structure in heat emission. The Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) and laser altimeter (LIDAR) also gathered valuable data, with the latter delivering what could be the first successful LIDAR ranging measurement during an asteroid flyby. The mission has demonstrated JAXA's ability to collide spacecraft with a small celestial body, serving as a demonstration of the fast reconnaissance concept in planetary defense. This technology could provide crucial information ahead of an impactor mission, and it's not the end for Hayabusa2. The spacecraft is now on its way to rendezvous with the tiny asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031, a roughly 36-foot-wide (11 m), rapidly rotating rock.
