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The Japanese spacecraft "Hayabusa 2" continued Friday its mission on the asteroid Ryugu with a risky scientific experiment. The probe fired an explosive device over the asteroid to blow up a crater in the celestial body and capture parts of the vomit fluid. The explosive exploded as expected 40 minutes after its launch.
The mission was the most risky mission up to now. The maneuver, 300 million kilometers from the Earth, was very demanding: the probe had to approach the asteroid at 500 meters, then move away after the explosion, in order not to not be hit or damaged by the thrown material or collide with Ryugu.
A camera lowered on the asteroid should then inspect the crater. On a sandy surface, experts expected a diameter of ten meters, in a rock of three meters.
When the maneuver of the camera was successful, applause broke out in the control center in Japan. However, the images were not available at the beginning. It will take about two weeks after the deployment of "Hayabusa 2" to return to its starting position.
The German-French-Japanese mission is to provide new information on the formation of our solar system, as well as on the possibility of fighting an asteroid in the event of collision with the Earth. Scientists suspect the presence of organic matter and water on the Ryugu asteroid 4.6 billion years ago. At the end of February, "Hayabusa 2" landed briefly on the asteroid, firing a bullet at the surface of it to spin the dust.
"Hayabusa 2" was launched in December 2014 and is expected to return to Earth with samples next year. The mission, which costs the equivalent of nearly 90 million euros, has not always been easy. Originally, the landing of the probe was already planned last year. However, as the surface of the asteroid proved unexpectedly robust, it took longer to find a suitable landing site.
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