The asteroid Ryugu used to pass far closer to the sun ... measuring 0.3 millimeters or less flying off the asteroid in the photos. The team's analysis of the blackish red substances showed ...

JAXA proudly tweeted pictures from the rovers, which reached Earth via the spaceship Hayabusa-2. Hayabusa-2 reached the asteroid Ryugu in June this year after a three-and-a-half-year journey.

The sample is part of a 0.2-ounce (5.4 grams) chunk of rock that Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft scraped from the surface of the asteroid Ryugu and brought back to our planet in 2020. After the ...