Tokyo: A Japanese probe on Friday launched an explosive device at an asteroid, aiming to blast a crater in the surface and scoop up material that could shed light on how the solar system evolved.

The explosive mission is the riskiest yet attempted by the Japanese space agency's Hayabusa2. Hayabusa2 successfully released the so-called "small carry-on impactor" as scheduled, as the probe hovered just 500 metres (1,650 feet) above the asteroid Ryugu, that spins 300 million kilometres from Earth.