Overview

• A new study combining ESO’s Very Large Telescope observations with earlier radar data tightly constrains 1998 KY26’s size, albedo and rapid rotation.
• Study authors report the asteroid is nearly three times smaller than thought and rotates twice as fast, changes that raise the difficulty of any brief touchdown maneuver.
• 1998 KY26 remains the final rendezvous for JAXA’s extended Hayabusa2 mission in 2031 following the spacecraft’s Ryugu sample return in 2020.
• The object appears bright and is likely a solid rock, though a loosely bound rubble-pile structure has not been excluded.
• A successful visit would be the first in‑situ exploration of a decametre‑scale near‑Earth asteroid, with implications for planetary defense and future small‑body missions.