On December 5, 2020, Haibusa 2’s Rentry Capsules filled with original samples of the Raigu asteroid formed a fireball in the desert sky over the Woomera Prohibited Area of Australia. Credit: Haibusa 2 Collection Team m
The team behind ESA’s Hera Planetary Mission congratulates the planets for their protection JXA To return to Earth the capsule of Heybusa 2 filled with ancient asteroid specimens. They will wait to apply insights into their own goal from this brave space adventure.
After traveling 2.2 billion km in space, the Hayabusa 2’s Rantary Capsule parachuted into Australia’s remote Desert Wummera Prohibited Area on Saturday, December 5, 2020.
Japan’s mission to Haibusa 2 planetary planet. Credit: JXA
Materials are collected during the operation, two samples were taken from an Earth asteroid from Rayugu inside the camp: subsequent samples were collected in February 2019 after blasting the planet’s face with one explosive after another in July after an initial touchdown sample. .
Patrick Mitchell, Director of Research at the Cએસte d’Azur Observatory in France, CNRS Director, serves as co-investigator and interdisciplinary scientist on the Japanese mission and as chief investigator at ESA’s Hera. He comments: “The Hybusa 2 models should give us an extraordinary opportunity to measure with high. Accuracy Its carbonaceous asteroid target formation and other material properties.
Hera, her cubsets and their rocky target. Credit: ESA / Science Office Fees
The 900 mm diameter Ryugu has the shape of a spinning top; Its density is very low and based on the results of a small Carry-Imp in Importer (SCI) performance experiment conducted in April 2019, its surface appears consistent. These findings are highly relevant to the defense of the planets, which is the main goal of the Hera mission. ”
Hera returns no specimens to Earth, but follows the approach of Haibusa 2 in a significant context.
NASA’s double asteroid redirect test, DART, mission aims to collide with two parts of the Didimos binary asteroid system in the fall of 2022. Credit: ESA
When it reaches its target Didymos asteroid system in late 2026, ESA’s desk-sized spacecraft will similarly investigate the Earth’s surface, this time excavated by a very powerful explosive effect: NASAMeanwhile, the Dart spacecraft will collide with two Didomos asteroids smaller in 2022, trying to move the planet’s orbit in a measurable way.
To give an idea, the SCI 2.5 kg copper projectile of Haibusa 2 is 900 cm. The diameter of the Raigu asteroid is about 2 km per second on the surface. The NASA Dart will have a mass weighing 550 kg and the Didimon 6 km. / Sec
Patrick Mitchell adds: “The impact of the Hybusa 2 represents the decisive first data point in anticipation of the dart effect, striking five times smaller asteroids with an object more than 200 times larger, moving three times faster to advance its orbit.”
The Haibusa 2’s deployable camera, the DCAM3, successfully photographed the ejector from the ‘Small Carry-Imp Imper’ or SCI for a short collision with the surface of the Raigu asteroid. On April 5, 2019, the SCI was released from the spacecraft, which had a plastic explosive charge, which hit a 2.5-kilometer copper projectile on the surface of the 900-mm-diameter Raigu planet about 2 km away. Shot at a speed of per second. The purpose is to uncover the surface material brought back to Earth for detailed analysis. Credit: JXA / Tokyo University / Kochi University / Rikyo University / Nagoya University / Chiba Institute of Technology / Meiji University / iz Ju University / AIST
Hera, with a pair of deployed space deep space cubesets, will focus on the mass left of the target asteroid, along with the composition, as well as a close measure of its prefix and internal properties. Doing so will help turn Hera Dart’s grand-scale deflection experiment into a well-understood planetary defense technique that will be reused to protect the Earth from incoming asteroids.
The parent Didimos shares the same spinning-top shape with the asteroid Rayugu, as well as should be broadly comparable in size, with a diameter of 780 m. Patrick Mitchell adds, “Hera will keep an eye on both Didimos and Demorphos. “How will their surface compare to Rayugu? Will they also be consistent in nature?
Portrait of the Hera Mission family. Credit: ESA / Science Office Fees
“Observations of natural pits as well as measurements of dart craters should allow us to answer this question and therefore determine whether the structural diversity of asteroid populations comes with mechanical diversity. This is very important not only for our scientific understanding, but also for the design of planetary defense missions, as the dissociation of mechanical properties has a greater impact on efficiency. ”
Later in Hera’s lifetime, the team will have the opportunity to make their mark on the surface of the Asteroids, bringing down Hera to Didimos at the end of Mira after unloading their two cubesets on Demorphos.
The artist’s imprint shows Milani’s cubeset one of his main works – studying asteroid dust particles. Credit: ESA / Science Office Fees
Dart and Hera are simultaneously supported by the International Double-Spacecraft Asteroid Effect and Deflation Assessment (AIDA) collaboration.
“Every new space mission changes our vision of asteroids,” says Ian Carnely, who oversees Hera for ESA. “Hybusa 2, with its treasure trove of asteroid content, will definitely revolutionize our understanding of those objects and their history. Hera will make her own contribution later in the decade, while also exploring how humans can save the Earth in the future.”
