Japan's Hayabusa2 Probe Makes Second Touchdown On Distant Asteroid (japantimes.co.jp) 50
Japan's Hayabusa2 probe touched down on a distant asteroid on Thursday, the space agency said, on a mission to collect samples that could shed light on the history of the solar system. The Japan Times reports: "The control room received Doppler data showing that the probe appears to have touched down successfully," Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency spokesman Takayuki Tomobe said. "But Doppler only shows the speed and altitude so we will need definitive confirmation," he added. Additional data readings are expected later in the day. The landing is the second time it has touched down on the desolate asteroid as part of a complex mission that has also involved sending rovers and robots. The mission hopes to collect pristine materials from beneath the surface of the asteroid that could provide insights into what the solar system was like at its birth, some 4.6 billion years ago.
To get at those crucial materials, in April an "impactor" was fired from Hayabusa2 toward Ryugu in a risky process that created a crater on the asteroid's surface and stirred up material that had not previously been exposed to the atmosphere. The second touchdown required special preparations because any problems could mean the probe loses the precious materials already gathered during its first landing. The probe had been expected to make a brief touchdown on an area some 20 meters away from the center of the crater to collect the unidentified materials believed to be "ejecta" from the blast.
To get at those crucial materials, in April an "impactor" was fired from Hayabusa2 toward Ryugu in a risky process that created a crater on the asteroid's surface and stirred up material that had not previously been exposed to the atmosphere. The second touchdown required special preparations because any problems could mean the probe loses the precious materials already gathered during its first landing. The probe had been expected to make a brief touchdown on an area some 20 meters away from the center of the crater to collect the unidentified materials believed to be "ejecta" from the blast.
Re: No Kendall. (Score:2, Insightful)
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The new owner and editors routinely delete comments, som
Re: (Score:2)
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On the hunt (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
You're going to want this Toyota van. It has all the lebensraum your growing Nordic family needs:
https://jalopnik.com/would-you... [jalopnik.com]
Atmosphere? (Score:2, Informative)
"created a crater on the asteroid's surface and stirred up material that had not previously been exposed to the atmosphere"
Just a detail: there is no atmosphere.
This should read "... exposed to the harsh conditions of deep space"
Re: (Score:2)
One of the major US news sources on this story has Hayabusa "sucking up" particles that had been loosed by the impactor.
Science-illiterate reporting at its finest.
Re: (Score:1)
Just a detail: there is no atmosphere.
Possible they are considering solar "wind" as something like atmosphere?
Get your pogo stick and bounce! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I would like to see the whole Hayabusa team wearing the Elly Prizeman.
Uh oh... (Score:2)
in April an "impactor" was fired from Hayabusa2 toward Ryugu
Should we be declaring war on the asteroids? Remember what happened last time...
Touchdown (Score:2)
Yeah, but let's see if they make the extra point.
bad PR (Score:4, Interesting)
Is it me, or is there some pretty weak PR coming from JAXA on this? I remember the first touchdown barely made news (at least in the US), despite being a major achievement. This llatest one seems like it has even less news coverage. Maybe (hopefully) it's making more news outside of the US.
Re: (Score:3)
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/ [japantimes.co.jp]
https://mainichi.jp/english/ [mainichi.jp]
Link to articles:
https://mainichi.jp/english/ar... [mainichi.jp]
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/n... [japantimes.co.jp]
https://mainichi.jp/english/ar... [mainichi.jp]
Take That Musk! (Score:1)
I'd like to see you land a motorcycle [wikipedia.org] on an asteroid.
Outstanding achievement (Score:2)
Congratulations to the engineers, scientists, and administrators in Japan.
It's really an amazing outcome, and I wish the mission continued success.