A Japanese spacecraft reaches a diamond-shaped asteroid

TOKYO (CNN) – A Japanese spacecraft has reached a diamond-shaped asteroid three years after undertaking its mission to discover the origins of the Earth.

The Hayabusa2 spacecraft arrived on Wednesday at the Ryugu asteroid, after a 300-million-kilometer journey from Earth that began in December 2014, said the aerospace exploration agency. Japan.

The spacecraft is about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the asteroid, from where it will launch a projectile into the rock for the purpose of excavating samples below the surface.

Later, Hayabusa2 will touch the asteroid and collect the samples. He will leave Ryugu in December 2019 and will eventually return to Earth by the end of 2020.

Under their sorry surface, asteroids contain a rich treasure trove of information about solar system formation there are billions of 39; years.

The Japanese Space Agency said it hoped to explore some of the "minerals, water and organic matter" of the asteroid in order to "know the" 39, origin and evolution of the Earth ".

The team surprised despite its years of careful planning.

"From a distance, Ryugu appeared at first round, then gradually transformed into a square before becoming a beautiful form similar to fluorite – known as" firefly "in Japanese," This form of Ryugu is scientifically surprisingly, and also poses some engineering challenges, "he says of difficulties, including the landing, on the asteroid of unusual shape

.the team has already accomplished a considerable feat in reaching the 900 meter wide rock – something that she described as the equivalent of hitting a target of 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) to 20,000 kilometers (12,400 miles).

"In other words, arriving at Ryugu amounts to targeting a 6-centimeter target in Japan from Japan," said the agency.