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Patrick Michel

Patrick Michel

Planetary scientist on the Hayabusa2 science team

Appears in 1 story

Notable Quotes

"Each time we have seen a new asteroid, we've been surprised. We're going to discover another beast to put in the zoo of asteroids." — to Space.com

Stories

Hayabusa2 threads a close pass by asteroid Torifune

New Capabilities

Awaiting flyby data on a never-before-seen asteroid

On July 5, 2026, a Japanese spacecraft flew about 1 kilometer past an asteroid the size of a skyscraper, moving at roughly 5 kilometers per second. JAXA confirmed Hayabusa2 pulled off the pass and gathered data on 98943 Torifune, a 450-meter rock no probe had ever visited.

Updated 1 hour ago