Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2, launched by the Japan Space Exploration Agency from its Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture on Dec. 5, is flying without a hitch so far. The spacecraft is a successor to Hayabusa, which was launched in 2003 and arrived back on Earth in 2010 after collecting surface samples from Asteroid Itokawa in 2005.
While Hayabusa¡¯s achievement has been laudable and Hayabusa2 is an upgraded and improved version, Japan should not feel complacent. It must move to the next phase in space exploration, since the nation¡¯s overall space exploration capabilities thus far leave much to be desired.
The target of Hayabusa2 is 1999 JU3, a tiny asteroid with a diameter of some 900 meters, circling the sun with its path between the orbits of Earth and Mars.
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