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Imagination of the probe of the asteroid ‘Hayabusa 2’ landing on a carbonaceous Ryu-gu. JAXA provided
A capsule containing a sample of the asteroid ‘Ryugu’, which is located 300 million kilometers from Earth, fell in the Umera desert in South Australia around 3 am on the 6th. It has been about six years since that Hayabusa-2, an asteroid probe built by the Japan Aerospace Development Organization (JAXA), left Earth on December 3, 2014 to collect samples from Ryugu. The total distance Hayabusa2 traveled before returning to Earth and separating the capsule is more than 5.2 billion kilometers.
JAXA discovered the capsule at 4:47 AM on Day 6, and at 12:31 PM it recovered all the parts that had fallen from the capsule, including the heat sink and parachute, and immediately began analyzing the gas inside the capsule. JAXA announced on the 7th that it had completed the gas extraction via its Twitter at 5pm. After gas analysis, the capsules will be transferred to the Space Science Research Institute (ISAS) located in Sagamihara city, Kanagawa prefecture, Tokyo for analysis.
Ryugu is a carbonaceous asteroid with a shape similar to a cube and an average width of about 850 m. Although more than 70% of the asteroids identified to date are carbonaceous asteroids, samples of carbonaceous asteroids have not yet been brought to Earth. With JAXA safely recovering the capsule, Hayabusa 2 became the first probe to bring a sample from a carbonaceous asteroid to Earth.
New records written by the Hayabusa2 asteroid probe
Additionally, Hayabusa 2 set several new records. To list a few, create artificial craters on an asteroid, asteroid exploration using a rover robot, separate two exploration robots, land at two points on an asteroid, land at a target point with 60 cm precision, the Earth. It is an internal investigation of an external celestial body.
Hayabusa 2 was made by improving the control system, engine and communication equipment based on the ‘Hayabusa’ previously manufactured by JAXA. The size and appearance are about the same, but the biggest difference is the collider. Hayabusa 2 was equipped with a collision device that contained gunpowder to sample from the interior of the asteroid.
It is possible that the asteroid’s surface has changed its composition due to the influence of the solar wind and cosmic radiation, so it is necessary to collect a sample inside the surface to better understand the environment at the time the solar system was created. . On July 11, 2019, Hayabusa 2 blew up a gunpowder-containing collision device on Ryugu’s surface to create a small crater and collect samples. This created the first crater on the asteroid and harvested the internal material.
Prior to sample collection, Hayabusa 2 landed the asteroids ‘Minerva-II’ and ‘Mascot’ on Ryugu on September 21 and October 3, 2018, respectively. The Rover-1B and the mascot mounted on the Minerva-II explored Ryugu and photographed him. This is the first time a rover has landed on an asteroid, and it was also the first to land two.
Rover-1B landing on Ryugu and photographing Ryugu’s surface. JAXA provided
Hayabusa 2 landed on Ryugu’s surface on February 22, 2019. Initially, it was planned to land in late 2018, but as a result of a close observation of Ryugu’s surface, there was more gravel and rocks than expected, and it took time. find the landing site. JAXA examined the size of 10,000 rocks on the surface of Ryugu and selected a location near the equator (L08) as the final landing point.
Hayabusa 2 landed in a location that is only 1m from the target site using the ‘target marker’ which is thrown at the target location in advance. The destination marker is white when exposed to sunlight and is easily noticeable when on the dark surface of the Ryugu. If you land the destination marker first and then calculate the direction and distance to the destination point based on this position, you can land accurately.
Hayabusa 2, which completed the crater generation test at the first landing site, landed elsewhere on July 11, 2019. At this time, the error from the destination point was about 60 cm. Hayabusa 2 made craters here and collected internal samples to bring them back to Earth.
Area L08, where Hayabusa 2 first landed. L07 and M04 are candidate landing sites, N6 is the Minerva II landing site, and MA-9 is the mascot’s landing site. JAXA provided
Hayabusa 2, which delivered the capsule to Earth, immediately set off to explore another carbonaceous asteroid 1009KY26. When it first left Earth, it used only half the fuel. The arrival date at 1009KY26 Hayabusa 2 is currently expected to be July 2031. About 10 years left.
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