About Itokawa
Itokawa is a 535 m × 294 m × 209 m S-type Near-Earth Asteroid that became the first asteroid from which samples were returned to Earth. JAXA’s Hayabusa spacecraft rendezvoused with Itokawa in 2005, collected ~1,500 grains of surface material, and delivered them to Woomera, Australia in June 2010. Laboratory analysis has since shown that Itokawa is a “rubble pile” — a gravitationally-bound collection of fragments with ~40% porosity — and that its minerals preserve evidence of water interaction.
Physical Properties
Orbit
Gallery
Hand-picked mission imagery of Itokawa sourced from NASA and partner archives. Click any photo for full resolution and source attribution.
Imagery on this page is provided by the original mission teams. Full attribution terms: Image Rights & Credits.
Sources & Further Reading
- NASA — official mission / factsheet page
- Wikipedia — extensive cross-referenced article
- JAXA Hayabusa Mission
Numerical values (radius, mass, orbital elements, temperatures) are drawn from NASA NSSDC Planetary Fact Sheets, JPL Horizons, and the JPL Small-Body Database. Last refreshed: 2026-06-08 01:37:02.