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The Japanese space agency has managed to land two rovers on an asteroid for the first time in history. The robotic explorers were dispatched to the Ryugu asteroid of the Hayabusa-2 spacecraft on Friday. Scientists say that the study of asteroids could help to better understand the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago and the evolution of the Earth.
Sputnik talked about the successful landing by Japan of two rovers on an asteroid with Dr. Yuichi Tsuda, director of the Hayabusa-2 project.
Sputnik: It's such an exciting mission and I think it's a unique mission and the first of its kind. Could you please share some of the difficulties you have encountered in preparing and carrying out this mission?
Dr. Yuichi Tsuda: I'm going to explain just how difficult the rover mission we did last week is [was]. Our robots separated from the spacecraft at 55 meters above the surface of the asteroid – which left them a release speed of 3 cm per second, so at such a low altitude, a very soft separation, a very precise calculation for this operation. That happened at 300 million kilometers, so I think you can imagine that it must be very difficult.
Sputnik: Can you tell us in detail what this mission will entail? What will the rovers do?
Dr. Yuichi Tsuda: The two vehicles have been separated from the mother spacecraft and they are moving by hopping over the surface to capture surface images, measure temperatures and gather information on the asteroid.
Sputnik: Usually, when we send objects in space, we send them into celestial bodies like the Moon. How big is an asteroid compared to the moon? It's very small, is not it? Does this make it more difficult to land a mobile on this kind of celestial body?
Dr. Yuichi Tsuda: Yes, the Ryugu asteroid is only 900 meters in diameter, which means that the size itself is very small and that the gravity is very small. So, if you drop rovers from far away, they can easily miss the asteroid and fly away; If you drop the rovers too quickly and have them hit hard, they can easily break. If you drop the rovers in the wrong place, they can easily get stuck between the rocks. We have to release the rovers at very low altitude, very slowly, in a very limited place. It's very different from our landing on the Moon or other large planets.
Sputnik: Why was it not done before? Obviously because it's very difficult, but was there a technological breakthrough that allowed you to do it? Or were they just the first to have the courage to try to do something like this?
Dr. Yuichi Tsuda: I think the reason is just because it is very difficult. The breakthrough for us is the perfect combination of ground control and spacecraft autonomy and everything must be perfect for this rover landing. Some past missions have attempted to place landers on an area of asteroids or comets, such as NASA's NEAR mission and that of Rosetta, but none of them has attempted to move on the surface of the asteroid. to make a single mobile mobile landing in the Hayabusa-1 mission 13 years ago, but it failed. So we have already experienced how difficult such an attempt is. We are proud that this time we managed to land two rovers at a time and cross the asteroid in perfect health.
Sputnik: Very exciting, but tell us why this 900-meter asteroid – Ryugu – why was he chosen for the mission?
Dr. Yuichi Tsuda: In general, asteroids are sometimes called fossils of the solar system. They were born a few billion years ago without alteration or chemical modification because of their very small size. Knowing an asteroid is like knowing our solar system and the asteroid Ryugu is a special type of asteroid supposed to contain water and carbon related materials. Water and carbon are very important for all life on Earth. We therefore believe that the exploration of such a celestial body should bring us fruitful scientific knowledge about how life in our solar system was born and about life.
Sputnik: So, what kind of samples will he collect? I guess soil and rock samples, but is there a chance that everything is alive, if there is carbon on this asteroid, is there a possibility to see signs of life?
Dr. Yuichi Tsuda: Our goal is to collect about 100 mg minimum to about a few grams of earth to bring back to Earth. We believe it should contain organic materials, including carbon and water related substances. By obtaining such extraterrestrial material, it should contain information about the history of the solar system and about life on Earth.
Sputnik: I understand that there will also be a crater created by these rovers; can you tell us why this is important? How will it be done?
Dr. Yuichi Tsuda: Hayabusa-2 will take the sample from the surface, but we are not satisfied with just taking samples of the surface, but [we want] To learn more about the asteroid, we want to know the information below the surface. To do this, we want to expose the underground material by creating a crater. That's why we are going to try to generate a crater.
Source: Sputnik News
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Four families of extremely young asteroids have been identified
Sao Paulo, Brazil (SPX) September 26, 2018
Four families of extremely young asteroids have been identified by researchers affiliated with the State University of Sao Paulo (UNESP) in Guaratingueta, Brazil. An article on the discovery was published in the monthly records of the Royal Astronomical Society.
"We have identified new families by numerical simulation using the Retrospective Integration Method (BIM), which is much more accurate than other methods of dating asteroid families." But BIM only works for the … Read more
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