The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) hasannouncedwhere its Hayabusa2 ballistic capsule will seek a landing on the asteroid Ryugu .
Hayabusa2 launched in December 2014 with the goal of bringing a sampling of an asteroid back to Earth . Its target is Ryugu , a 3,000 - meter - wide asteroid contain water and organic molecules — the building blocks of our own planet . The spacecraft has been approaching the asteroid for a few month and now orbits just a few Roman mile above the body ’s surface . Hayabusa2 will hopefully return to Earth with a sample of Ryugu in late 2020 .
JAXA retain an all - daytime landing website selection conference last week , where it selected the land site : L08 ( in pink in the figure above ) for Hayabusa2 ’s landing place site , L07 and M04 for backup landing web site , as well as landing muscae volitantes for the MASCOT suite of scientific instruments and the MINERVA - II-1 container , which hold two identical rover .
Here ’s the image below . acknowledge that Ryugu looks flipped compared to other picture of the rock ; that ’s because normally , the images are presented to the world with Earth ’s North Pole facing up — in other words , how Ryugu would await from Earth . Ryugu rotates the diametrical direction that the Earth does , so turning the effigy 180 degrees couch the asteroid ’s own North Pole on top .
How did JAXA determine the landing place locations for Hayabusa2 ? The sites are flat spots within 200 meters ( 656 fundament ) of Ryugu ’s equator , with an middling slope less than 30 degrees , a flat area with a 100 - meter ( 328 - foot ) diameter , boulders less than 50 cm ( 20 inch ) eminent , and a temperature less than 97 Celsius ( 206 Fahrenheit ) . These conditions are count most ideal for Hayabusa2 ’s mental synthesis , including the instruction of its solar panels , the length of its try machine , and its optimal operating temperature .
Picking the site ask analyzing and pattern Ryugu ’s shape , measure out the density of boulders , and determining at the asteroid ’s temperatures . Selecting locations for the other musical instrument take additional work .
But it the mission remain shaky . “ We learned that that asteroid is not friendly to us , so [ landing place is ] not as soft as we had supposed when we were plan the mission , ” Masaki Fujimoto , Deputy Director General at JAXA ’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science , recite Mika McKinnon .
According to JAXA , the 1,300 - pound Hayabusa2 will perform touchdown rehearsals on September 12 and again in mid - October , then touch down for the first sentence in late October . MINERVA - II-1 will operate on September 20 to 21 , and MASCOT from October 2 to 4 . All dates are subject to change .
Once Haybusa2 reach Ryugu , it will blast the surface to sound off up junk and grab sampling below the asteroid ’s surface , which it will then collect in a capsule . The materials that the scientists hope to sample are distributed around the planet , so no matter where they land , they ’ll get the sample they desire , reports Mika McKinnon .
This is exciting poppycock — we’ve reported on some of humanness ’s previous attempts to set down on and collect sample from asteroid , which you’re able to read all abouthere .
foil your fingerbreadth !
[ h / tMika McKinnon ]
asteroidsAstronomyHayabusa2ScienceSpace
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