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The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 has reached its closest distance from its target asteroid, the Ryugu. A photo taken on June 24 revealed the interesting form of the asteroid, which scientists have found both interesting and challenging.
( JAXA, University of Tokyo and collaborators )
The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2, launched in 2014, has just moved closer to its target asteroid, the Ryugu, at a distance of about 25 miles.
To date, the Japanese spacecraft has traveled about 1.9 billion miles to get closer to the Ryugu asteroid. Its ultimate goal is to collect samples of the asteroid containing water and natural materials and then bring those samples back to Earth by the end of 2020.
If successful, samples from Ryugu will allow scientists to better understand the current situation when the solar system was formed a few billion years ago.
Ryugu & # 39; Firefly Stone & # 39; Asteroid
The Ryugu asteroid was discovered in 1999. Its name was derived from an underwater dragon palace, which is a popular element in the Japanese folk tale.
At the beginning of this month, the first photos taken of the asteroid at a distance of about 1600 miles have shown that it has a somewhat circular shape.
On June 24, however, the spacecraft was able to take pictures, which revealed the actual shape of the asteroid. It is square-shaped and similar to the shape of a fluorite or firefly gemstone, which is popular in Japanese culture. The craters of the asteroid, as well as the geographical features, also become visible.
Ryugu's form becomes more visually interesting. As the spacecraft gets closer to it, the asteroid also becomes scientifically challenging for the Japanese team. Therefore, the asteroid brings to the team both good news and bad news.
"First, the axis of rotation of the asteroid is perpendicular to the orbit, which increases the degrees of freedom for landing and decent rover operations." said Yuichi Tsuda, project manager for the spacecraft.
"On the other hand, there is a peak in the vicinity of the equator and a large number of big craters, which makes the selection of landing points both interesting and challenging, which means we are waiting for the direction of the gravitational force of the asteroid's surface to not point straight down, "he explained.
The Ryugu asteroid also runs in a way that surprises the Japanese team. Makoto Yoshikawa, another mission official, noted that Ryugu performs a longer rotation than similar asteroids. The Ryugu rotates about 7.5 hours compared to other C-type asteroids that revolve around 3 hours.
In the meantime, the Japanese team said that a more detailed investigation of Ryugu's properties is needed so that they can design their future operational plans.
Hayabusa2 Spaceship
Hayabusa2 is expected to reach within 3.1 miles of Ryugu's surface in July. The spacecraft will then measure the gravity field of the asteroid. By September or October, the spacecraft is expected to make its first "landing operation" on the asteroid. He plans to deploy several small rovers during these months.
The spacecraft will "sleep" between November and December because the sun will mostly block Ryugu's communications to Earth and vice versa. As soon as it "wakes up", the spacecraft will proceed to deploy smaller rovers including a copper projectile that will create a crater on the asteroid from where the samples will be collected.
Hopefully by 2019, Hayabusa2 will return to Earth just in time to eject a capsule containing the samples back to Earth by 2020.
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