The Japanese space probe reaches an asteroid in search of the origin of life – Technology

Update [30 juin 2018] 15:59

Researchers began to applaud when the probe arrived

A Japanese probe reached an asteroid 300 million kilometers away. gather information about the birth of the solar system and the origin of life after a trip of more than three years in the deep space.

The Hayabusa2 probe successfully installs in an observation position 20 kilometers above the Ryugu asteroid. The researchers started applauding when the probe arrived, a feat that JAXA called "shooting from Japan on a six-centimeter target in Brazil".

"We are at the beginning of a scientific exploration of space that is unprecedented for humanity," said Yuichi Tsuda, project leader, in Washington, DC, on June 30, On the occasion of the International Asteroid Day of the UN. Scientists hope to find clues about what gave birth to life on Earth from samples taken on the Ryugu, which are believed to contain relatively large amounts. Pictures of Ryugu – which means "Dragon Palace" in Japanese, a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale – show a spinning asteroid with a The Hayabusa2 probe was in good shape and now ready to start exploring the asteroid in the next 18 months, said JAXA.

The next step is to identify suitable sites for taking samples as soon as the probe touches on the asteroid, scientist Seiichiro Watanabe said:

"Impactor"

Hayabusa2, the size of a large fridge and equipped with solar panels, is the successor to JAXA's first asteroid explorer, Hayabusa – Japanese for Falcon. 19659004] This probe came back from a small potato-shaped asteroid in 2010 with dust samples despite various setbacks during its seven-year epic odyssey and was hailed as a scientific triumph.

The Hayabusa2 mission costs 30 billion yen) and the probe was launched in December 2014. It will remain with the asteroid for 18 months before returning to Earth with its samples.

His total flight time was 1,302 days and traveled 3.2 billion kilometers in space on a diverted route Tsuda told reporters:

To recover his samples, he will go out an "impactor" that will explode over the asteroid, pulling a two kilogram copper object into the surface to dig a crater. From this crater, the probe will collect "fresh" materials not exposed to millennia of wind and radiation, hoping for answers to some fundamental questions about life and the universe, including whether elements of s [19659005] The probe will observe the surface with its camera and detection equipment, but it will also drop tiny MINERVA-II mobile robots as well as a Franco-German landing set named Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT). ) for surface observation.