Japan creates the first artificial crater on the asteroid – the first ever artificial crater

by



[ad_1]

First artificial crater

1/5

First artificial crater

Japanese scientists have managed to create what they called the first-ever artificial crater on an asteroid, a step forward that better understands the evolution of the solar system, the agency said Thursday. of space.

The announcement comes after the Hayabusa2 probe fired an explosive device at the Ryugu asteroid earlier this month to blow up a crater on the surface and pick up some equipment, with the goal of revealing more of the objects. information about the origins of life on Earth.

In pic – Yuichi Tsuda, Project Manager of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

AP

Artificial crater

2/5

Artificial crater

Yuichi Tsuda, project manager Hayabusa2 of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), told reporters he confirmed the crater from images captured by the probe located at 1700 meters from the surface of the asteroid.

"Creating an artificial crater with an impactor and observing it in detail afterwards is a first global attempt," Tsuda said. "It's a big hit."

In the image – In this computer graphics image published by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Hayabusa2 probe is seen above on the Ryugu asteroid

AP

Key realization

3/5

Key realization

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft successfully created an artificial crater on a comet in 2005, but only for observation purposes.

Masahiko Arakawa, a professor from Kobe University involved in the project, said it was "the best day of his life".

"We can see a hole as big as we expected," he said, adding that the images showed a crater 10 meters in diameter.

In the photo – The photo of the document received from the Hayabusa2 probe and made available by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows stone and sand after bullets have been fired at the surface to collect data from the Hayabusa2 probe after landing on the Ryugu asteroid

AFP

One of the first

4/5

One of the first

Scientists from the Japanese space agency had previously predicted that the crater could reach 10 meters in diameter if the surface was sandy or three meters if it was rocky.

"The surface is filled with blocks, but we have created a crater of this size, which could mean a scientific mechanism we do not know or anything special about Ryugu's materials," said the professor.

AFP

5/5

"Palace of the dragon"

The purpose of the crater blasting on Ryugu is to emerge from the surface of the asteroid "fresh" materials that could illuminate the beginnings of the solar system.

It is thought that the asteroid contains relatively large amounts of organic matter and water for about 4.6 billion years, when the solar system was born.

The photos of Ryugu, which means "dragon palace" in Japanese and refers to a castle at the bottom of the ocean, in an ancient Japanese tale – show that the asteroid has a rough surface full of rocks.

On the photo – A photograph published by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) shows the small cabin impactor (SCI) after the separation of the Hayabusa2 probe

AFP

[ad_2]

Source link