Japan succeeds in creating the first artificial crater in the world on an asteroid

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This illustration shows when the Hayabusa2 spacecraft creates a crater on the Ryugu asteroid with the help of explosives. (Illustration provided by the illustrator Akihiro Ikeshita)


This image taken by a camera detached from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft shows rocks on the Ryugu asteroid flying three seconds after an impactor struck the surface. (Image courtesy of JAXA, University of Kobe and other institutes)

TOKYO (Kyodo) – The Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 has managed to create an artificial crater on an asteroid that has altered the body's ground for a historic first, the space agency announced Thursday. .

Hayabusa2 had fired a projectile on the Ryugu asteroid about 340 million kilometers from the Earth as part of the probe's mission to explore the origin of life and the evolution of the solar system.

"The terrain of the asteroid has clearly been changed," said Yuichi Tsuda, associate professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Hayabusa2, which began its descent to the asteroid on Wednesday afternoon, captured images of its surface to determine the existence of the crater after the successful launch of a metal projectile at Ryugu on April 5 as part of a experience considered the first of its kind.

According to JAXA, the probe would have photographed the area hit by the projectile at a distance of 1.7 km. The agency compared images of the surface of the asteroid before and after firing the projectile to determine the presence of an artificial crater.

Hayabusa2 fired a copper "impact head" on Ryugu. The agency confirmed a burst of debris caused by the collision.

Launched in December 2014 from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwest Japan, Hayabusa2 arrived in Ryugu last June.

He landed in February to collect surface samples and found hydrated minerals that will help scientists determine if the asteroids brought water to Earth as expected.

Hayabusa2 is expected to return to Earth in 2020, according to JAXA.

Asteroids like Ryugu are often compared to fossils containing the preserved traces of the birth of the solar system. But the effects of the solar wind have altered Ryugu's surface, forcing deep digging to collect such materials.

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