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[CRA2] The crater formation where the small banded hand impactor collided with Ryugu has been confirmed! These images compare the surface before and after the SCI collision. pic.twitter.com/BZPYlHhSjs
– HAYABUSA2 @ JAXA (@ haya2e_jaxa) April 25, 2019
New images of the Japanese shuttle Hayabusa 2 show the location of a new crater carved on the jagged terrain of the Ryugu asteroid by an explosive charge dropped on the rocky surface of the tiny world earlier this month.
The Hayabusa 2 probe exceeded half of its target by exploring Ryugu for a year and a half. After collecting his first sample on the surface of the asteroid in February, Hayabusa 2 s is positioned on a different part of Ryugu and released an impactor on April 4 to create an artificial crater exposing pristine rocks. underlying that the spacecraft had to examine and recover in the next few weeks. .
An explosive charge sank the 12-inch (30 cm) copper strike element into the asteroid at high speed, striking Ryuku's surface with enough energy to leave a mark about 20 meters in diameter. .
This is twice the size of the crater that scientists expected from the impact.
Images linked by the Hayabusa 2 probe on April 25 revealed for the first time the site of the impact. After deploying the impactor earlier this month, the probe first flew behind the asteroid to avoid any debris raised by the collision creating a crater, and then returned to a "position of base "about 20 km from the asteroid.
Hayabusa 2 also released a camera to stay closer to the impactor. The images transmitted from the camera by the Hayabusa 2 camera to the Earth showed a granular view of a shower of particles thrown from the asteroid by the impactor.
The image confirmed the impact of the impact on Ryugu, but scientists did not know the size of the created crater.
Ground controllers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which developed the Hayabusa 2 mission, ordered the spacecraft closer to Ryugu last week to search for the new crater.
Hayabusa 2 examined the site of the impact over a distance of approximately 1.6 km.
"The exact size and shape of the artificial crater will be examined in detail in the future, but we can see that the terrain of an area of about 20 meters wide has changed," tweets officials via the official Twitter account of the Hayabusa 2 mission. "We were not expecting a change of this magnitude and a lively debate was launched in the project!"
The device used to create the artificial crater called Small Carry-On Impactor. It was one of the many deployable modules brought to Ryugu by Hayabusa 2. Last year, Hayabusa 2 released three undercarriages to explore the wide -meter) surface. asteroid.
Rock debris evacuated by the collision of the impactor had to expose materials inside the asteroid, where the specimens were protected from radiation and other effects of atmospheric conditions due to sunlight and temperature differences. extremes. Scientists hope that Hayabusa 2 will be able to take a sample of the crater in the coming weeks and bring the rocks back to Earth, as well as those collected on the surface of the asteroid earlier this year.
Hayabusa 2 arrived in Ryugu last June and is expected to leave the asteroid in November or December for the cruise back to Earth. The spacecraft will drop a re-entry capsule protected by a heat shield to plunge into the Earth's atmosphere in December 2020, when the return craft will parachute for a landing in Australia.
Scientists will transfer the asteroid samples to laboratories for detailed analysis in hopes of learning more about the history of the solar system.
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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
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