Japan's Hayabusa2 probe completes closest asteroid flyby on record

Japan's space agency, JAXA, has announced that its Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully executed the closest flyby of an asteroid ever recorded. On July 5, the probe navigated within 400 meters of the near-Earth asteroid Torifune while traveling at high speed.

The operation aimed to demonstrate advanced autonomous navigation capabilities and support planetary defense research by testing techniques designed to evaluate how space rocks might be deflected from Earth's trajectory. The refrigerator-sized probe had previously retrieved material from the asteroid Ryugu during an earlier phase of its extended mission before being redirected to study Torifune.

Sources: Digi24