Asteroid Explorer
Hayabusa2
First public showing by JAXA
December 26, 2012, Sagamihara, Japan - A scale model of the "Hayabusa-2," an unmanned asteroid explorer, is shown at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Sagamihara Campus, southwest of Tokyo, on Wednesday, December 26, 2012.
JAXA unveiled the unmanned asteroid explorer designed to retrieve samples of surface from the asteroid "1999 JU3" to the earth. The spacecraft will soon undergo the first integration test to confirm the interfaces among onboard devices before its scheduled launch in 2012. (Photo by AFLO) UUK -mis-