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Asteroid Ryugu, photographed by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 on June 23, 2018, at a distance of 25 miles (40 kilometers).
Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, Aizu University, AIST
The Japanese probe Hayabusa2 is getting closer to its target of asteroids before a scheduled rendezvous in a few days.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has released several new images that Hayabusa2 recently broke from the Ryugu asteroid, whose shape has now become clear.
"From a distance, Ryugu appeared at the beginning, and then gradually transformed into a square before becoming a beautiful form similar to fluorite (known as" firefly "in Japanese)," wrote Yuichi Tsuda, project manager at Hayabusa2. description of the most recent photos taken by the probe Saturday and Sunday (23 and 24 June), from 40 kilometers. [Photos: Japan’s Hayabusa2 Asteroid Mission in Pictures]
"Now the craters are visible, the rocks are visible and the geographical features vary from one place to another," added Tsuda. "This form of Ryugu is scientifically surprising and also poses some engineering challenges."
Several previous images, taken from 100 to 200 miles (62 miles to 100 miles), reveal a topography suggesting that the 3000-foot-wide asteroid probably had a complex evolutionary history, officials said. Scientists say that asteroids in the Ryugu size range could be fragments of a larger parent body.
"As we approached Ryugu and could distinguish the individual characteristics of the topology of the asteroid, it became clear that the Ryugu possessed a rich terrain," said lead researcher Seiji Sugita in a statement. communiqué released Friday, June 21st. "Many rock piles roll on the surface, including a large rock mass (about 150 meters). [490 feet] through) stands out on the top of Ryugu because of its brighter color (greater reflectivity). The ring-shaped ring of the peaks that surround the equator are also slightly brighter than their surroundings.
Ryugu saw between 220 ~ 100 km. Do we see the history of the asteroid etched on its surface? https://t.co/cNG1ZGsqlI pic.twitter.com/qqTEozetCV
– HAYABUSA2 @ JAXA (@ haya2e_jaxa) June 21, 2018
"This color difference," Sugita added, "may reflect a difference in the material composition and size of the particles that form the rock.We can also see many sunken regions that look like craters.These depressions may have been made in collisions with other celestial bodies, a structure that looks like a grove is also visible. "
JAXA has published a number of Ryugu photos of Hayabusa2 in recent days. For example, another set showed that the asteroid rotates perpendicularly to its orbit every 7.5 hours. Ryugu also seems to have the same shape as the asteroid Bennu, target of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling mission of NASA, and the 2008 asteroid EV5, target of the European mission proposed by MarcoPolo-R who was not finally selected.
Hayabusa2 left Earth in 2014 and is expected to arrive in Ryugu – which is about 180 million miles (290 million km) from the Earth at this time – Wednesday, June 27 or so.
Other landing operations are scheduled for February 2019 and April or May 2019. In addition, Hayabusa2 will generate a crater with an impactor in March or April 2019 and will carry out a second vehicle deployment in July. (Finally, the mothership will deploy a total of three rovers and one landing gear on the surface of Ryugu.)
Hayabusa2 will also spiral down to collect fresh crater samples. If all goes as planned, these samples will descend to Earth in a special return capsule by the end of 2020.
Such operations will be somewhat complicated by Ryugu's distinctive form, as Tsuda mentioned in his reference to "technical challenges".
At a distance of only 330 – 240 km from Ryugu, we start to distinguish the shape! Ryugu seems to have an equatorial ridge and deep craters; a structure no different from the destination of @OSIRISRExasteroid Bennu. Where are we going to land? https://t.co/Ad0NUC5dfZ pic.twitter.com/sYax26xeuZ
– HAYABUSA2 @ JAXA (@ haya2e_jaxa) June 19, 2018
This form "means that we expect the direction of gravitational force on large areas of the surface of the asteroid does not point directly downward," said Tsuda. "We therefore need a detailed survey of these properties to formulate our future mining plans."
Hayabusa2 follows in the footsteps of Hayabusa's original mission, which marked history in 2010 by making small pieces of the Itokawa asteroid to Earth.
follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally posted on Space.com.
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