Hayabusa2 faces challenge as target asteroid 3 times smaller than expected
ESO's Very Large Telescope has found that Asteroid 1998 KY26 is just 11 metres wide, nearly three times smaller than thought, and it spins once every five minutes. The discovery complicates Japan's Hayabusa2 mission, which is set to encounter the asteroid in 2031. "The smaller size and faster spin will make landing more challenging," says Olivier Hainaut of ESO.