Hayabusa 2 is the First Spacecraft to Sample the Inside of an Asteroid

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is now the first spacecraft to retrieve a subsurface sample from an asteroid. On July 11th, the spacecraft touched down for a second time on asteroid 162173 Ryugu. This time, the probe retrieved a sample from a crater it excavated with its impactor. The subsurface sampling operation is a complex mission. …