A Japanese spacecraft that successfully “bombed” a planet after more than 3 billion miles through space is close to returning to Earth.
Japan’s Haibusa 2 spacecraft will drop at least 100 milligrams of the nearby Earth planet, Rayuguna, into Australia’s Woomera on December 6. After that, he will continue his journey to visit additional planetary targets.
“We are now on our way to landing for Earth,” said Yuichi Susuda, manager of the Haibusa 2 on Friday. The height will now gradually decrease towards the woomera. Fasten your seatbelts and if you are traveling with young children, please help them. The direction of the landing approach is scheduled to 1-5-0. “
Scientists at JXA believe that the samples, especially those taken from the surface of the Ryugun, are not affected by space radiation and other environmental factors.
3,000 feet wide (900 m) carbon rich asteroid Rayugu, photographed in June 2018 by Japan’s Haibusa 2 probe.
(JXA, Tokyo University, Kochi University, Rikyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, Izu University, AIST)
In February 2019, Hybusa 2 soon touched on Ryugu and a scientific research “Bullet” was launched into space, collecting samples.
A few months later, in April, the craft released a small explosive dropped X, which landed a copper ball the size of a bezel on the planet, eventually collecting samples. These samples were collected in July 2019 and are thought to contain traces of carbon and organic matter in planetary samples.
Asteroids can provide answers to the origins of our solar system, according to NASA.
Makoto Yoshikawa, Hibusa 2 project mission manager, said scientists are particularly interested in analyzing organic matter in Ryugu soil samples.
“Biological substances are the origin of life on Earth, but we still don’t know where they came from,” Yoshikawa said. “We hope to find the key to the origin of life on Earth by analyzing the details of the organic matter returned by Hayabusa 2.”
Haybusa 2, which started its return journey to Earth in August 2019, will unload the precious cargo, and then continue its journey. It will then make a fly-by render with Asteroid (98943) 2001 CC21 in July 2026 and Asteroid 1998 KY26 in July 2031.
The spacecraft, operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JXA, is believed to have captured at least 100 milligrams of Rayugun, continuing after dropping samples.
Launched on December 3, 2014, Haibusa 2 reached Ryugu on June 27, 2018, when the planet was about 170 million miles from Earth. His journey to Earth was short due to Ryugu and the current locations of the Earth.
The asteroid, located about 180 million miles from Earth, is named Raigu (“Dragon’s Palace” in Japanese) after an Andersia palace in Japanese folklore.
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The story is contributed by James Rogers of the Associated Press and Fox News.
