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Space Japan

Japan's Hayabusa 2 Successfully Touches Down On Ryugu Asteroid, Fires Bullet Into Its Surface (theguardian.com) 54

Posted by BeauHD from the mission-accomplished dept.
Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft has successfully touched down on the asteroid Ryugu at around 11:30 GMT on Thursday. "Data from the probe showed changes in speed and direction, indicating it had reached the asteroid's surface, according to officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)," reports The Guardian. From the report: The probe was due to fire a bullet at the Ryugu asteroid, to stir up surface matter, which it will then collect for analysis back on Earth. The asteroid is thought to contain relatively large amounts of organic matter and water from some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system was born. The complicated procedure took less time than expected and appeared to go without a hitch, said Hayabusa 2 mission manager Makoto Yoshikawa. The spacecraft is seeking to gather 10g of the dislodged debris with an instrument named the Sampler Horn that hangs from its underbelly. Whatever material is collected by the spacecraft will be stored onboard until Hayabusa 2 reaches its landing site in Woomera, South Australia, in 2020 after a journey of more than three billion miles. UPDATE: JAXA says it successfully fired a "bullet" into Ryugu, collecting the disturbed material. "JAXA scientists had expected to find a powdery surface on Ryugu, but tests showed that the asteroid is covered in larger gravel," reports CNN. "As a result the team had to carry out a simulation to test whether the projectile would be capable of disturbing enough material to be collected by [the Sampler Horn]. The team is planning a total of three sampling events over the next few weeks."
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Japan's Hayabusa 2 Successfully Touches Down On Ryugu Asteroid, Fires Bullet Into Its Surface More

Japan's Hayabusa 2 Successfully Touches Down On Ryugu Asteroid, Fires Bullet Into Its Surface

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  • Success (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 23, 2019 @02:07AM (#58168272)

    I heard the mission was largely a success, except that Bruce Willis didn't make it back.

  • "Mama just killed an asteroid Put a gun against it's head Pulled the trigger now it's dead....? Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      " Put a gun against it's head"

      put a gun against that extra apostrophe
      pull the trigger
        now it's its
      it's means it is

  • and YouTube immediately demonetized them.
    {O,o}

  • Dear Asteroid (Score:5, Funny)

    by darkain ( 749283 ) on Saturday February 23, 2019 @04:26AM (#58168486) Homepage

    Dear Asteroid: The dinosaurs say "HELLO" *bang*

  • Hmm.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by aevan ( 903814 ) on Saturday February 23, 2019 @05:45AM (#58168606)
    Would this count as a Mass Shooting?

    #BanAssaultProbes
  • Do they think it's wise to bring an organic sample from the astroid down here to earth? Wouldn't it be safer to first check it out at ISS, so if something is wrong with the sample we won't have a big dissaster on our hands here on earth.

    • Re:Wise? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by religionofpeas ( 4511805 ) on Saturday February 23, 2019 @08:05AM (#58168844)

      You're watching too many movies. Very unlikely there's anything dangerous on outside of asteroid, constantly exposed to radiation. Secondly, they will take plenty of precautions to avoid contamination. Also, almost impossible to get something from space to the ISS.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AHuxley ( 892839 )
        Some type of sports person in space to catch the return flight?

      • So what you're saying is you think there's a chance of space monsters lurking under the surface in the center of asteroids?

        • The chance of life on the inside is slightly higher than on the outside, but still extremely slim. And even if there's a life form, that doesn't mean it could survive on Earth (oxygen could be toxic to it, or it may not be able to find any nutrients). And even if it could survive, that doesn't mean it's a threat. An alien virus would not be compatible with our biochemistry, for instance.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by DeVilla ( 4563 )
          That's why they shot first.

    • Do they think it's wise to bring an organic sample from the astroid down here to earth? Wouldn't it be safer to first check it out at ISS, so if something is wrong with the sample we won't have a big dissaster on our hands here on earth.

      Damn Skippy. Why else do we pay these space canaries, errr, astronauts.

  • Why initially hypothesize powder on the surface? I suppose on one hand you've got the asteroid's weak gravity hovering it up as it goes through space. On the other hand there's high velocity impacts of tiny particles adding enough energy to liberate the finer stuff.

  • we fire first. Now wonder we can't have nice first contacts as no alien nation wants to be shot on sight.

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