Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has been chasing near-Earth asteroid Ryugu since launch in Dec. 2014, getting up close and personal with the space rock. During the chase it has deployed two rovers to Ryugu's surface and blasted a hole in Ryugu's surface to collect samples with a tiny cannonball. Its new mission feels like the natural progression for Hayabusa2 -- now it's shooting a rover at the surface.

#followthistrendingworld