Hayabusa2 leaves asteroid, may drop samples from same distance as Moon

Japan's space agency said Wednesday its Hayabusa2 probe has departed from an asteroid after completing its mission of collecting samples and will consider releasing them at a height equivalent to the distance between Earth and the Moon.The probe's homeward journey, previously scheduled to start by the end of the year, was brought forward to Wednesday morning after it successfully accomplished its planned tasks. It will travel around 800 million kilometers to deliver the samples to Earth in November or December next year.One option for the delivery is having the space probe drop a capsule co…READ FULL ARTICLE