First reported by Mashable
Japan and China just flew past asteroids. Here's what they saw.
Japanese and Chinese probes conduct close flybys of two small asteroids
Two asteroid missions achieved close encounters this week: Japan's Hayabusa2 flew past the asteroid Torifune (a double-lobed rubble pile), and China's Tianwen-2 approached asteroid 2016 HO3 (Kamo'oalewa) to prepare for sample collection. The article notes that double-lobed rubble pile shapes are actually common among small asteroids, contrary to expectations.
Key quotes
It was a pretty good week for asteroids: the Japanese mission Hayabusa2 flew past Torifune, and the Chinese mission Tianwen-2 approached 2016 HO3, aka Kamo'oalewa, in preparation to take samples.
Torifune is weird, isn't it? Except it really isn't. It's a double-lobed rubble pile, which we're learning is actually a not uncommon shape for small asteroids.
Rubble piles are literally that; collections of rocks of all sizes held tog
From the article
And they’re very different from each other. Plus: Swift boost mission launches
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