Asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 made its touchdown on just about the planned landing site on the asteroid Ryugu, based on a photograph taken right after its touchdown.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Monday that its analysis of the image confirmed the mark left by the touchdown near the planned landing point, concluding that the explorer "was able to touch down on just about the chosen location."
A camera mounted on the underside of Hayabusa2 took the picture from an altitude of about 25 meters as it soared away, about a minute after the touchdown.
According to JAXA, a subtle black spot was observed below and to the right of Hayabusa2's shadow in the image, which is believed to be a change of color caused by sand being moved by the force of the explorer's blastoff. The black part almost exactly overlaps with the targeted landing area, which is 6 meters in diameter.
JAXA also confirmed the presence of a target marker used for the explorer's descent.
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