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(dramatic electronic music)

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It's an audacious plan, seemingly impossible,

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launch a space craft to a nearby asteroid

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180 million miles away, land safely on top,

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take samples, and return unharmed to Earth

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with a souvenir from space.

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But yesterday the Hayabusa2 spacecraft came one step closer

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to completing that plan,

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as it successfully descended onto the asteroid Ryugu

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before collecting the first of three samples

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from this pristine object.

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(scientists applaud)

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This latest triumph from JAXA, Japan's space agency,

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wasn't as easy as its daring success might make it seem.

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Unforeseen hazards not only delayed the mission

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but also endangered its success.

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(speaking in foreign language)

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After a 3 1/2 year journey through space,

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on June 27th, 2018, Hayabusa2 arrived at its destination.

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The carbon-rich half-mile wide asteroid

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orbits the sun between Earth and Mars.

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And this primordial near-Earth object

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could one day unravel the clues of our early solar system.

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(intense music)

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That Ryugu is believed to contain the organic matter

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and hydraulic minerals, very important ingredient of life.

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Technologically, it's a sample return mission,

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so not only going to that asteroid,

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but get there and going back from the asteroid to the Earth.

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So, it's a roundtrip mission.

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The asteroids are leftover fragments

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of the planet formation process

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and have been sitting out in the solar system

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for the past 4 1/2 billion years relatively undisturbed.

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And so by studying these objects,

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we're really able to peer back into the past

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and understand what the conditions were like

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as planets were forming, both chemically and physically,

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and perhaps our best link to understanding how planets

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in our solar system actually formed.

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Missions to small asteroids like Ryugu

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could help shed new light on the mystery

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of our planet's formation.

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Hayabusa2 will collect a total of three separate samples

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from the asteroid before returning them back to Earth.

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But it can't do it alone.

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The spacecraft spent its first two months on Ryugu

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mapping out potential landing sites for its four rovers,

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who in turn will scour the asteroid's surface

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for sampling sites.

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An initial two rovers were deployed

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on Ryugu to great success,

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becoming the first ever to land on an asteroid.

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Ryugu's low gravity makes driving on the surface impossible.

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So instead, these rovers must hop from location to location,

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floating for up to 15 minutes per bounce,

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all the while snapping important photographs of the terrain.

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These pint-sized robotic wonders,

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measuring roughly seven inches by three inches

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and weighing less than 2 1/2 pounds,

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are only slightly larger than a cellphone.

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But their diminutive size shouldn't take away

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from their big accomplishments,

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as they revealed the first detailed images

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of the asteroid's surface.

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(dramatic music)

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Shortly thereafter, MASCOT,

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Hayabusa2's larger tumbling rover,

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landed on the asteroid's southern hemisphere,

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safely protected from the sun's violent radiation.

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Racing to take advantage of MASCOT's 17 hours

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of operational battery life,

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the German scientists and engineers

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who designed the vehicle were able

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to explore two areas of the asteroid,

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compiling data on Ryugu's gravitational and magnetic fields

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as well as images to help select the best sampling sites.

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And what engineers saw changed everything.

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Before arriving at its destination,

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scientists thought that Ryugu's surface

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would be flat and featureless,

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perfect for landing the probe and sampling its material.

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Instead, it soon became apparent that Ryugu is littered

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with large, hazardous boulders,

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disrupting years of meticulous planning

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and putting the mission's fate into jeopardy.

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Hayabusa2's sampling instrument was designed to pierce

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what was thought to be a soft surface.

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Instead, engineers back in Japan

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now had to test whether or not the instrument would be able

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to effectively pierce the rocky terrain.

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While the instrument appeared to work in the lab,

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Ryugu may not be so forgiving.

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Finding a suitable landing site

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brought a new set of headaches.

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How do you find a safe spot

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amid a minefield of dangerous rocks?

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After scouring through the latest maps,

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a new location, LO8-E1 was chosen.

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The problem, the landing site is roughly six meters wide,

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a far cry from the previously planned

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100-meter wide location.

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(tense music)

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Yesterday, mission members held their breath

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as the spacecraft descended 20 kilometers

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toward the surface.

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The procedure required extreme navigational precision.

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One wrong step could lead to a mission-ending catastrophe.

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A target marker resembling a small metallic sphere

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was deployed at the landing site

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to guide the spacecraft

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as it auto-corrected to avoid disaster.

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The moment of truth was finally at hand.

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(scientists applaud)

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And the smiles told the story as Hayabusa2 successfully dove

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to the surface and collected its first sample.

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The craft is now scheduled

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to collect one more surface sample

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before it attempts an unprecedented grand finale,

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blowing up part of the asteroid

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to collect an untouched subsurface sample.

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The risky maneuver, currently scheduled for April 2019,

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seems to have been pulled right

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from a science fiction movie.

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The spacecraft will release a single-shot free-flying gun

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as well as a remote camera before positioning itself

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a safe distance from the targeted explosion site.

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Once the camera gives the all clear,

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the gun fires a copper projectile toward the asteroid

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from an altitude of 500 meters where it is expected

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to produce a two-meter wide crater upon impact.

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Hayabusa2 will then wait a few weeks for the dust to settle

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before beginning its final descent

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and collection of the subsurface material.

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It will then fire up its iron propulsion thrusters

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and begin its journey back to Earth.

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At close proximity, Hayabusa2 will jettison the samples

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through the atmosphere towards the Australian Outback,

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arriving safely by 2020.

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But JAXA is not the only space agency

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in the asteroid collection business.

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NASA providing a little bit of friendly competition as well.

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The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has reached its own target, Bennu,

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after a similar two-year journey.

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Currently in orbit around the asteroid,

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it too will take samples and return them to Earth.

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While the spacecraft's mission will take longer

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than its Japanese counterpart,

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the asteroid's sample hull

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will be 20,000 times larger than Hayabusa2's.

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But space exploration is all about collaboration.

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The two space agencies have agreed

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to share their asteroid samples with one another.

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NASA will receive 10% of Hayabusa2's collected sample,

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while JAXA will receive a half a percent

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of OSIRIS-REx's much larger hull.

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Only time will tell what secrets

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of the cosmos will be revealed

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when these asteroids arrive to Earth.

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(calm music)