Hayabusa2's Small Carry-on Impactor Made a Crater on Ryugu

The Japanese space agency (JAXA) has confirmed that its probe Hayabusa-2 successfully created an artificial crater on the surface of a distant asteroid, Ryugu, in early April. The operation to create an artificial crater on the surface of Ryugu was conducted by JAXA on the 5th of April.

The Hayabusa-2 probe fired an explosive device near the surface of the asteroid. As a result of the explosion on the asteroid, an extensive round-shaped artificial crater was formed. It emphasised that this is the first time such a crater has been created on the surface of the asteroid.

"We can see such a big hole a lot more clearly than expected", Masahiko Arakawa, a Kobe University professor involved in the project said as quoted by the France24 news outlet.

The purpose of making the crater on Ryugu was to lift "fresh" material from under the asteroid's surface to shed light on the early stages of the solar system.

The asteroid Ryugu is located between Earth and Mars. "Hayabusa-2" was launched in December 2014 from a spaceport on the Japanese island of Tanegashima. It is assumed that a probe weighing about 600 kg, in perhaps November or December, will leave the asteroid's orbit. It is expected to return to Earth in 2020.

Hayabusa2 is operating normally.
These images were captured by the Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic onboard Hayabusa2. By comparing the two images, we have confirmed that an artificial crater was created in the area surrounded by dotted lines. The size and depth of the crater are now under analysis.

Hayabusa2 to clarify the origin and evolution of the solar system as well as life matter
Asteroid Explorer "Hayabusa2" is a successor of "Hayabusa" (MUSES-C), which revealed several new technologies and returned to Earth in June 2010.

While establishing a new navigation method using ion engines, Hayabusa brought back samples from the asteroid "Itokawa" to help elucidate the origin of the solar system. Hayabusa2 will target a C-type asteroid "Ryugu" to study the origin and evolution of the solar system as well as materials for life by leveraging the experience acquired from the Hayabusa mission.

To learn more about the origin and evolution of the solar system, it is important to investigate typical types of asteroids, namely S-, C-, and D-type asteroids. A C-type asteroid, which is a target of Hayabusa2, is a more primordial body than Itokawa, which is an S-type asteroid, and is considered to contain more organic or hydrated minerals - although both S- and C- types have lithologic characteristics.

Minerals and seawater which form the Earth as well as materials for life are believed to be strongly connected in the primitive solar nebula in the early solar system, thus we expect to clarify the origin of life by analyzing samples acquired from a primordial celestial body such as a C-type asteroid to study organic matter and water in the solar system and how they coexist while affecting each other.

Source: RIA Novosti

Related Links
Hayabusa2
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology

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