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The last Nasa sample return mission maybe, but JAXA’s first Hayabusa returned samples in 2010.



True, my bad, so yes, last sample return mission was JAXA's Hayabusa in 2010.

They did have some problems though: "... safe descent mode. This mode did not permit a sample to be taken, but there is a high probability that some dust may have whirled up into the sampling horn when it touched the asteroid".

1500 extraterrestrial grains had been recovered, comprising the minerals olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase and iron sulphide. The grains were about 10 micrometers in size.


Plus their lander totally flopped.

Luckily, this is an incremental upgrade to the previous probe, so it's hopefully less buggy.




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