Following its nominal mission, the Hayabusa2 spacecraft is cruising toward two new targets as part of its extended mission, Hayabusa2# (SHARP: Small Hazardous Asteroid Reconnaissance Probe). The spacecraft will fly by the near-Earth asteroid (98943) Torifune in 2026 and rendezvous with another near-Earth asteroid, in 2031. was at its brightest in 2024 since its discovery in 1998. This study aims to characterize the surface composition of and constrain its origin. We used the 10. 4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias to obtain a visible reflectance spectrum of in May 2024. We analyzed the spectrum for taxonomic classification and compared it with laboratory meteoritic spectra and other E-type asteroids. The spectrum of as an E-type (Tholen). The spectral shape is consistent with enstatite chondrites (EL/EH). shows an overall positive spectral slope with no clear absorption feature, which turns flat (neutral) at 0. 6-0. 7 μm and slightly negative toward 0. 9 μm. It is taxonomically classified as an Xe-type (Bus-DeMeo) or X-type (Tholen), while the asteroid's high geometric albedo (pV ∼ 0. 52) identifies 1998 KY 26 Considering the spectral shape and the high albedo of it quite likely originated from the inner main belt rather than the Hungaria region. These results also suggest a possible relationship to asteroids (44) Nysa and (135) Hertha, which may originate from layers of different reduction states in a parent body.
Tatsumi et al. (Tue,) studied this question.