See multiple views from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft's touching down on asteroid 162173 Ryugu. Credit: JAXA/U. Tokyo/Kochi U./Rikkyo U./Nagoya U./Chiba Inst. Tech./Meiji U./U. Aizu/AIST ...

Snapping a series of pictures that revealed the asteroid’s shape. The asteroid of choice was 162173 Ryugu, or Ryugu for short. In Japanese it refers to a magical, underwater Dragon Palace.

Chemotaxis, a process for chemically inducing movement in an organism, may be a crucial tool in the search for life on Mars.

But their proximity also offers ample opportunities to learn more about the universe. Ryugu, a 900-meter diameter asteroid in the Apollo belt, has recently proven useful in our search for signs of ...

Soil samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu by Japan's Hayabusa 2 space probe contain organic substances, a discovery that will likely provide clues to the origin of life on Earth, according to ...

The spacecraft left its orbit around Ryugu on Wednesday with samples of the asteroid in tow. Hayabusa-2 is expected to return to Earth in late 2020, completing its successful multi-year mission.

Researchers have found more than 20 different amino acids, the building blocks of life, in soil samples Japan’s Hayabusa 2 space probe brought back from the asteroid Ryugu, according to sources.