Japan space probe skims asteroid in test for planetary defense
A Japanese space probe performed a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid on July 5, in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks.
The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 was due to fly within 800 meters of asteroid Torifune, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) scientists said earlier, a trial run to see whether such a probe could deflect a potentially dangerous space rock away from Earth.
The mission comes after NASA deliberately smashed a spacecraft into the 160-metre-wide Dimorphos asteroid in 2022, successfully altering its orbit around a larger space rock.
Moving at a speed of more than 18,000 kilometers per hour, Hayabusa2 was not intended to collide with Torifune.
