Ryugu asteroid landscape filled with rocks and rocks

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency reports that the Ryugu asteroid is filled with rocks and rocks and has virtually no flat surface to land.

MASCOT Lander finally on Ryugu

The Franco-German rover Mascot reached the surface of Ryugu on October 3 and has already begun exploring the asteroid. JAXA has also started receiving and publishing mobile photos.

Scientists at the Mission Control Center in Cologne, Germany, used the cameras embedded on the Hayabusa2 spacecraft to monitor the path taken by the rover through the 900-meter-diameter asteroid.

"What we have seen from afar has already given us an idea of ​​what it might look like on the surface," said MASCOT Scientific Director Ralf Jaumann. "In fact, it's even crazier than expected, everything is covered with rough blocks and littered with blocks, and since these blocks are compact and what they're made of, we still do not know it." But the most amazing thing was that large accumulations of fine material could not be found – and we did not expect that. "

MASCOT was to be an "extension" of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on the surface of Ryugu. Until now, he has conducted four experiments at different places on the celestial object.

Hayabusa2 delays the landing

Because of this discovery, the JAXA will delay the hit of Hayabusa2 on the surface of the Ryugu asteroid. The satellite, launched in 2014, was originally scheduled to make random landings to collect samples of the asteroid later this year. However, scientists discovered that the asteroid was more rocky than expected.

JAXA will have to develop a new plan to land the probe on Ryugu's surface before returning home. Yuichi Tsuda, the project manager behind Hayabusa2, said his team would need at least a month.

The craft will repeat its touch towards the end of the month in which it will get closer to the asteroid. However, he will try to land next year.

Hayabusa2 arrived in Ryugu in June of this year. In September, he dropped two "hopping" rovers, named Minerva II-1A and Minerva II-1B, to explore the surface of the asteroid before the spacecraft attempted to land.

The Hayabusa2 mission on Ryugu hopes to reveal new information about the creation of the solar system. Asteroids are remnants of the formation of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago and could give scientists a glimpse of how planets, including the Earth, have evolved.

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