Hayabusa2 Earth Swing-by

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed an Earth swing-by operation of the Asteroid Explorer “Hayabusa2 ” on the night of December 3 (Thu.), 2015 (Japan Standard Time). The Hayabusa2 flew closest to the Earth at 7:08 p.m. (JST) and passed over the Pacific Ocean around the Hawaii islands at an altitude of about 3,090 km.

After its closest flight to the Earth, we have confirmed the good health of the Hayabusa2 through operations supported by the NASA Deep Space Network stations.

The Hayabusa2 project team is currently measuring and calculating the post-swing-by orbit. It will take about a week to confirm if the explorer entered the target orbit. We will report the result once it is determined.