A High-Speed Encounter in Space

According to reports from Argentine media outlets like Clarín (one of Argentina's most prominent newspapers) and specialized science portals, on July 5, 2026, the Hayabusa2 probe achieved an astonishing technical feat. The spacecraft, about the size of a refrigerator, flew past asteroid 98943 Torifune at an estimated distance of just 800 meters and at a staggering speed of over 18,000 kilometers per hour.

The maneuver was a massive challenge because Torifune was not the original target of the mission, and the probe was designed for maneuvers at 20 kilometers away, not hundreds of meters at breakneck speed. However, the operation was a total success. The black-and-white image taken by the ONC-T telescopic camera revealed an unexpected surprise: two round objects joined together, earning it the nickname of the snowman.

What is Asteroid Torifune?

98943 Torifune is a Near-Earth Object (NEO) of the S-type (rocky), with an average diameter of about 450 meters. It belongs to the Apollo group, meaning its orbit crosses Earth's, although it poses no immediate threat. Its name comes from Ame no Torifune, which in Japanese mythology means celestial bird ship, a poetic name for a vessel traveling through the cosmos.

Its two-lobed shape suggests it is a rubble pile, similar to asteroid Itokawa. This happens when an asteroid's rotation accelerates so much that it fragments, and its pieces regroup into two main bodies that end up joined together. Understanding this morphology is vital for planetary defense, as knowing an asteroid's composition is key to designing deflection strategies, something that gained relevance after NASA's successful test with asteroid Dimorphos in 2022.

Hayabusa2's Trajectory

The probe was launched on December 3, 2014 toward asteroid Ryugu. There it collected samples that returned to Earth on December 6, 2020, bringing back 5.4 grams of regolith. Studying this material revealed the presence of the five nucleobases that form DNA and RNA, a hopeful discovery about the origins of life.

Instead of being retired, Hayabusa2 used leftover xenon from its ion engines for an extended mission. Its next major step will be an Earth flyby in December 2027 to adjust its orbit, and its final destination will be asteroid 1998 KY26 in July 2031, a tiny body just 11 meters in diameter with an ultra-fast rotation.