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Tokyo (AFP)
After six years in space, the Japanese probe “Hayabusa 2” returns to Earth with precious samples from one of the asteroids, before embarking on a new mission.
This probe, launched in December 2014 and the size of a refrigerator, made an important development for scientists, as it landed on an asteroid 300 million kilometers from Earth and took samples from it.
But its work is not yet finished, as scientists from the Japanese Space Agency plan to extend its mission by more than ten years by sending it to explore two new asteroids.
And the “Hayabusa 2” must empty the samples it carries from the asteroid “Ryugu”, which represents about 100 milligrams of particles, scientists hope that through them they will reach indicators that provide information about what to what the solar system looked like when it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.
Project director Yuichi Tsuda told reporters that these materials could explain “how matter is dispersed in the solar system, why it is on the asteroid, and how it relates to Earth.”
These samples, which were collected during two critical phases of the mission last year, are in a capsule that will separate from Hayabusa 2 at an altitude of 220,000 km above the ground and then descend into the southern desert. from Australia early Sunday.
“We may be able to obtain materials that give us clues to the origin of a planet and the origin of life,” mission chief Makoto Yoshikawa told reporters.
These samples, which are protected by their presence in the capsule from sunlight and radiation, will be collected, processed, and then airlifted to Japan.
Half of the materials collected by Hayabusa 2 will be shared by the Japanese Space Agency, the United States Space Agency (NASA) and international organizations, and the rest will be preserved for use in future studies in a way that keeps pace. advances in analytical technology.
– Two new asteroids –
Yuichi Tsuda noted Friday that “the probe is in very good condition at the moment”, describing its return as “a rare event in human history”.
After depositing the samples it carries, Hayabusa 2 will perform a series of orbits around the sun for about six years, during which it will record data on dust in interplanetary space and observe exoplanets.
The probe then approaches its first target in July 2026. Scientists hope that the probe will be able to photograph the asteroid “2001 CC21” by “passing at high speed”, although it will remain at a certain distance from it. .
Hayabusa 2 then heads for its main target, 1998 Ki26, a spherical asteroid only 30 meters in diameter. When the probe reaches it in July 2031, it will be approximately 300 million kilometers from Earth.
However, great difficulties can hinder the probe’s mission to this asteroid, including the fact that it spins rapidly and revolves around its axis every ten minutes or so.
Hayabusa 2 will monitor and photograph the asteroid, but it is unlikely to land on it and take samples as it is unlikely that there will be enough fuel left to send it back to Earth.
However, “Hayabusa 2” scientist and professor of planetary science at Nagoya University, Sichiro Watanabe, saw that just reaching the asteroid would be a success.
He told reporters: “We didn’t think at all that the probe would be able to accomplish another mission.”
While the expansion of the Hayabusa 2 mission carries a number of risks, the most important of which is the deterioration of its equipment in deep space, it is a rare and relatively cost-effective way to continue research.
Hayabusa 2 succeeded Hayabusa, which was the first asteroid exploration vehicle sent by the Japanese Space Agency. Hayabusa returned to Earth in 2010 with dust samples from a smaller potato-shaped asteroid, after a seven-year flight considered a scientific achievement.
© 2020 AFP
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