Hayabusa2 Mission Important to Planetary Defense

   Tokyo, April 15 (Jiji Press)--As there are many small asteroids that carry the risk of crashing into Earth's surface, the idea of planetary defense to prevent such disasters is becoming more important than ever.
   One such asteroid is 1998 KY26, which is the final destination for Japan's Hayabusa2 unmanned asteroid probe. Hayabusa2 aims to reach the asteroid in 2031.
   In February, news that the probability of another asteroid, 2024 YR4, hitting Earth in 2032 at one point exceeded 3 pct drew attention.
   Since these asteroids are very small, it is difficult to conduct detailed observations from Earth. Therefore, direct exploration by spacecraft such as Hayabusa2 is expected to provide important insight from the perspective of planetary defense aimed at preventing disasters caused by asteroid collision.
   In 2022, NASA succeeded in an experiment in which it intentionally had a space probe crash into an asteroid to change the asteroid's orbit. The European Space Agency's probe is currently heading toward this asteroid to investigate the impact of the collision in detail.

(2025/04/15-16:26)