Yesterday, a Japanese spacecraft managed to land on an asteroid at about 6 P.M. ET. Once they landed on the rock, JAXA, an aerospace organization, confirmed that the spacecraft has launched a bullet into the asteroid. According to JAXA, the purpose of the bullet is to gain some samples from the rock and to return it back to Earth for study. However, it isn’t confirmed whether the debris has been successfully captured by the bullet.

The spacecraft, called Hayabusa 2, traveled about two billion miles to eventually land on the asteroid named Ryugu. The spacecraft also landed some probes on the asteroids as well. The landing was planned for last October, however JAXA discovered that the asteroid has a surface “stern with rocks”, which JAXA has not anticipated for.

JAXA will monitor whether the bullet has collected the samples it needs or not. The bullet is not to come back until late 2020.

Image courtesy of NBC.com