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As part of its mission to explore the near-Earth asteroid (NEA)
162173 Ryugu, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa2 A spacecraft recently dropped a "bomb" on the surface of the asteroid. This explosive package, known as the Small Cabin Impactor (SCI), was specifically designed to create a crater on the surface, exposing the interior for analytical purposes.
The ICS deployment took place on April 5, exactly six weeks after the first sample taken from the probe on the surface. Last Sunday (April 21, 2019), JAXA provided the video "bombing" via the official twitter account of the mission. This was followed four days later by images of the crater This resulted in a revelation of darker materials from within, now exposed to space.
The SCI operation consisted of a 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) copper plate accelerated by a 4.5 kg (10 lb) patterned charge of plasticized HMX explosive (also known as octogen) used in weapons and military grade ammunition. The plate then collided with the surface, releasing a cloud of regolith that was then photographed by the probe deployable camera (DCAM3) – which was destroyed during the process.
The video provided in the tweet (above) is composed of images taken by the thermal infrared camera (TRI) of the probe, which shows the ICS moving towards the surface shortly after its separation from the probe. With the SCI operation completed, the mission team began moving to the next phase of the spacecraft operations.
The next phase – Crater 2 Search (CRA2) – began on April 23, when the crew began preparing for the descent to the surface. The descent began the next day and, on April 25, the spacecraft reached its lowest altitude of 1.7 km (1.05 mi). Once there, he made observations of the crater to see what impact had occurred.
This is the same region that was observed during its last observation mission (called CRA1), which took place from March 20 to 22, before the deployment of the SCI. Once the observations were completed, the JAXA tweeted images of CRA1 and CRA2 to provide a before and after comparison of the surface.
As you can see, the explosion displaced large pieces of material and left a crater of decent size. He also exhibited a regolith patch that is significantly darker than what was on the surface. In this regard, the SCI fulfilled its purpose, which was to break the surface in order to analyze the regolith of the interior.
This process is similar to the process used by the mission team to obtain material samples from the surface. Before descending to collect the regolith with its sampling horn, the spacecraft breaks the surface by hitting it with 5-gram tantalum impactors (or "bullets") at a speed of 300 m / s (1080 km). / hr, 670 mph).
The goal is to determine the composition of an asteroid to better understand the early period of our solar system. According to the current scientific consensus, asteroids like Ryugu are composed of material from the formation of planets, approx. 4.5 billion years ago. Samples from within the asteroid are preferred because they have not been exposed to vacuum and solar radiation for billions of years.
In addition, scientists believe that water and organic matter were distributed by asteroids during one of the first periods of the solar system, the late heavy bombardment period (about 4.1 to 3.8 billion years). The study of these materials should therefore help to better understand how water and organic materials were initially distributed in our solar system.
In turn, this information could go a long way to shed light on our theories of how and possibly the area where life (ie, other than Earth) might have emerged.
Further reading: JAXA
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