The Japanese Hayabusa 2 is getting closer to the Ryugu diamond-shaped asteroid | Space

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The Japanese probe Hayabusa 2 is now rapidly approaching the Ryugu asteroid, providing the first close-up views of this near-Earth object. According to The Mainichi, a news source covering the meeting with Japan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on June 24, 2018 that the space probe Hayabusa 2 had achieved a trajectory adjustment and was entered the last leg of his year trip to the asteroid. His scheduled arrival will be June 27th. Meanwhile, JAXA has also released a new set of images, showing a diamond shaped body – also compared to a spinning top – With rocks and craters.

As of June 24, the most recently published images are at a distance of 136 to 62 miles (220-100 km). One can see a bright spot near the top of the diamond (shades of Ceres?) And what could be an equatorial ridge, something else in the solar system, like on the moon of Saturn Iapetus and several other moons of Saturn (Atlas, Pan, Daphnis).

The images already show a lot of details, and of course, they will only improve as the spacecraft gets closer!

Ryugu is small, with a diameter of about 2,788-2,887 feet (850 to 880 meters), and has a similar appearance to the asteroid Bennu, which the US OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will encounter in 2020. Hayabusa 2 will attempt to send both a small lander and rovers to the surface of the asteroid, as well as bring back samples to Earth for study.

On June 19, Makoto Yoshikawa, director of the Hayabusa 2 mission for JAXA, said in a statement:

When I saw these images, I was surprised that Ryugu looks a lot like the destination of the US OSIRIS-REx mission, the asteroid Bennu, and also to the target of the MarcoPolo-R mission proposed by Europe, asteroid 2008 EV5. Bennu and 2008 EV5 are about half the diameter (and 1/8 the volume) of Ryugu, with rotation periods about half as long. In other words, these celestial bodies are small and spin fast relative to Ryugu. On the other hand, Bennu is a B-type asteroid, which is very similar to type-C asteroids such as 2009 EV5 and Ryugu. Therefore, there should also be common properties due to the asteroid type. So, we have both differences and similarities that have combined to produce very similar shapes … why is it? I think it's very interesting. Until now, the asteroids that we explored were of different shape, so Ryugu and Bennu could be the first time that two asteroids of similar form were examined. It will be interesting to clarify exactly what this similarity means scientifically.

After the arrival of Hayabusa 2 at Ryugu, it will only be 12.5 miles (20 km) above the surface of the asteroid. Between September and July of next year, a small lander (called MASCOT-1) and three small rovers (called MINERVA-II) will be deployed to the surface. Before that, however, the spacecraft will have to study the asteroid to find the best landing locations. As Yoshikawa noted:

If the axis of rotation for Ryugu is close to the vertical direction on this image, there is a big advantage because it will be possible to know almost all the appearance of Ryugu at an early stage after his arrival. This facilitates project planning. However, it is also possible that potential landing sites are limited to the Ryugu Equator. I hope we can find a suitable place to land the lander and the rovers.

Ryugu already proves to be an interesting body, as described by the lead investigator of the Seiji Sugita optical navigation camera:

As we approached Ryugu and could distinguish the individual characteristics of the topology of the asteroid, it became clear that Ryugu possessed a land rich in terrain. Many clusters of rocks roll on the surface. Of these, a large rock mass (about 150 m in diameter) detaches on the upper part of Ryugu due to its brighter color (greater reflectivity). The ring-shaped ring of the peaks that surround the equator are also slightly brighter than their surroundings. This difference in color may reflect a difference in the composition of the material and the size of the particles that make up the rock. We can also see many sunken areas 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.

The existence of these varied topographies is an indication that Ryugu has undergone a complex evolutionary history. It is generally believed that small asteroids less than 1 km (1 km), such as the Ryugu, were created quite recently in the history of the solar system (over several hundred million years) during the course of time. fragmentation of a larger parent body. Ryugu 's pitch will tell us about the division of the parental body and the subsequent evolution of the asteroid.

Hayabusa 2 is the second mission to return asteroid samples by JAXA. The first, Hayabusa, was launched in 2003 and arrived at the Itokawa asteroid in 2005. Despite some problems, 1500 grains of rock from the asteroid were successfully returned to Earth in June 2010. Hayabusa 2 must return his samples to Earth in 2020.

Look for Hayabusa 2 updates here

Want more details? Watch Scott Manley's video below:

Bottom line: We are now starting our first close-up of an asteroid near the Earth called Ryugu, thanks to the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa 2. Its shape of "diamond" or "top" may seem special, but its shape is similar to that of Another asteroid, Bennu, who will also receive his first land-based visitor, the US OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, in 2020.

Via JAXA

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