File Photo: Photo taken by Hayabusa2 shows the scene of Ryugu asteroid after the space probe landed and collected samples from Ryugu's surface. (Xinhua/JAXA)
Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe departed from an asteroid on which it landed to collect samples and will return to Earth by December next year, the space agency here said Wednesday.
According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the probe departed from the Ryugu asteroid at 10:05 a.m. local time Wedensday and will begin its 800-million-km journey back to Earth.
Upon its return, JAXA said the probe will release a capsule containing the samples it collected from the asteroid, and the capsule is expected to land in the desert in South Australia.
"We're grateful to the Hayabusa2 for fulfilling its challenging missions and we would like it to carry on with its final task of this mission," said JAXA's mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa.
The 600-kg Hayabusa2 was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan on December 2014 and has traveled in excess of 3.2 billion km.
The probe made two landings on the asteroid and collected rock samples as well as conducted a number of exploratory activities in an attempt to try to find clues about the solar system's evolution and possibly the beginning of life itself.
In July, the probe, during its second visit to Ryugu after touching down on its targeted area, which measured just 7 meters in width, attached the end of a cylindrical container to the surface of the asteroid and fired a small projectile from it and "sucked" up the debris from the subsurface of the asteroid as it floated up the container.
The probe also collected rock samples from underground that were fragmented when the probe first fired a projectile making an artificial crater, the first of its kind, in April, JAXA said.
In February, Hayabusa2 successfully made its first landing on Ryugu and collected rock samples.
Hayabusa2's mission will be completed when it returns to Earth in 2020 with the samples of rocks it has collected from Ryugu. The asteroid is thought to contain water and other materials that could possibly support life.
"All of us are satisfied and have no complaints with what we accomplished," Yuichi Tsuda, the probe project manager said.
"We're grateful to the Ryugu asteroid and are honestly sad about leaving it," said Tsuda.
