JAXA's Hayabusa2 makes closest-ever asteroid flyby, first laser ranging
Hayabusa2 passed 744 meters from asteroid Torifune's center, the closest Solar System flyby on record, laser-ranging it during the pass.
what happened
JAXA said its extended-mission Hayabusa2 spacecraft flew past asteroid Torifune on July 5, 2026 at 18:30:00 JST, passing approximately 744 meters from the asteroid's center (about 400 meters from its surface) while moving at roughly 5 km/s, the closest approach to a celestial body among all Solar System flyby missions to date. The spacecraft deviated only 120 meters from its aim point, and post-flyby orbit-determination accuracy improved from a 49.5 km error beforehand to 0.78 km after. During the same pass, JAXA said Hayabusa2's LIDAR instrument achieved the world's first successful laser ranging of an asteroid during a flyby, taking two measurements at about 20 km and 15 km from the roughly 540-meter-diameter, two-lobed asteroid.
why it matters
Hitting a sub-kilometer aim point at several kilometers per second, and laser-ranging the target in the process, validates close-proximity autonomous-navigation techniques that also underpin planetary-defense and future asteroid-rendezvous concepts pursued by both civil and commercial actors. Neither JAXA release names a commercial partner or supply-chain role for this extended-mission flyby; it is a JAXA-run technology demonstration, with Hayabusa2 next headed for the roughly 11-meter asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031.
for who
Planetary-defense researchers, deep-space navigation and instrument suppliers
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- JAXA
- Category
- science
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 5 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-07-05
- Published
- 2026-07-31 09:49 UTC