{"id":12838,"date":"2019-11-13T22:23:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T14:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/japanese-sample-return-craft-departs-asteroid-heads-for-earth\/"},"modified":"2019-11-13T22:23:55","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T14:23:55","slug":"japanese-sample-return-craft-departs-asteroid-heads-for-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/japanese-sample-return-craft-departs-asteroid-heads-for-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese sample return craft departs asteroid, heads for Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft\u2019s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Ryugu on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Closing out a year-and-a-half of exploration, surveys and sampling operations at asteroid Ryugu, Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft fired thrusters in a departure maneuver Wednesday and headed for Earth with specimens snatched from the asteroid\u2019s dark and rocky surface.<\/p>\n

The robotic spacecraft pulsed its control rockets Wednesday to begin moving away from asteroid Ryugu at approximately 0.2 mph (9.2 centimeters) per second, beginning a slow departure that will culminate in the activation of the probe\u2019s ion thrusters to reshape its trajectory and target arrival at Earth in late 2020.<\/p>\n

Ground teams at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency\u2019s control center in Sagamihara, Japan, confirmed the departure maneuver at 10:24 a.m. Japan Standard Time (0124 GMT Wednesday; 8:24 p.m. EST Tuesday).<\/p>\n

Hayabusa 2\u2019s thrusters propelled the spacecraft away from a position roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Ryugu. The spacecraft is programmed to collect a series of farewell images of the half-mile-wide (900-meter) asteroid through Nov. 18, when Hayabusa 2 will be more than 31 miles (50 kilometers) from Ryugu.<\/p>\n

According to JAXA, the spacecraft will change its orientation beginning Nov. 18 to prepare for testing of the probe\u2019s ion engines two days later.<\/p>\n

Hayabusa 2 carries four ion thrusters, powered by electricity and fueled by xenon gas, to adjust the craft\u2019s course through the solar system. The plasma engines produce low thrust, but can run for months at a time, making for a fuel-efficient propulsion system on deep space missions.<\/p>\n

After verifying the performance of the ion engines, Hayabusa 2\u2019s ground team will uplink commands to begin the mission\u2019s return cruise phase after Dec. 3, commencing a year-long transit back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Up to three ion engines will fire at one time during Hayabusa\u2019s return cruise.<\/p>\n

The departure maneuver Wednesday marked the end of Hayabusa 2\u2019s stay at Ryugu. During its time at the asteroid, the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft performed two touch-and-go landings to collect samples for return to Earth, and delivered a series of mobile robots to scout the asteroid\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

Scientists are eager to analyze the specimens, which they expect may contain organic molecules. Researchers believe asteroids like Ryugu, or a larger body like the one from which Ryugu split off, could have seeded Earth with materials necessary for life.<\/p>\n

JAXA unveiled an updated logo for the Hayabusa 2 mission after Wednesday\u2019s departure from Ryugu. The logo is green, symbolizing plant life on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the sample returned from Ryugu contains organics, we may understand how Earth gathered the raw materials for life,\u201d JAXA said in a tweet. \u201cThis logo reflects that expectation!\u201d<\/p>\n

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JAXA unveiled this special patch commemorating Hayabusa 2\u2019s return to Earth. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As of Wednesday, asteroid Ryugu was located around 156 million miles (252 million kilometers) from Earth.<\/p>\n

Named for a dragon\u2019s palace in a famous Japanese fairy tale, Ryugu completes one circuit of the sun every 1.3 years. Its path briefly brings it inside Earth\u2019s orbit, making Ryugu a potential impact risk with Earth in the distant future.<\/p>\n

The asteroid samples gathered by Hayabusa 2 are stored inside a return capsule, which will separate from the Hayabusa 2 mothership before plunging into Earth\u2019s atmosphere, aiming for a parachute-assisted landing in the Australian Outback at the end of 2020.<\/p>\n

The exact date of the sample return capsule\u2019s landing has not been confirmed by JAXA. The schedule will depend on the exact date of the start of Hayabusa 2\u2019s return cruise, and is subject to final negotiations between JAXA and the Australian government, according to Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa 2\u2019s project manager at JAXA.<\/p>\n

Hayabusa 2 carries samples collected from two locations on Ryugu.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft performed two precisely-guided touch-and-go landings on the asteroid in February and July. The sample collection in July was targeted to acquire material excavated from beneath Ryugu\u2019s surface by a high-speed impactor deployed by Hayabusa 2 earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Scientists will retrieve the asteroid specimens for detailed analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have 0.1 grams (of material), we can do all the sample analysis, but we hope we will have much more,\u201d said Makoto Yoshikawa, Hayabusa 2\u2019s mission manager at JAXA, in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to study the organic matter on Ryugu because we want to know the origin of life on the Earth, and we think Ryugu has original matter that became life,\u201d Yoshikawa said. \u201cSo our main purpose is analysis of the organic matter on the surface of Ryugu.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hayabusa 2\u2019s ground team posted for this photo after spacecraft\u2019s departure from asteroid Ryugu on Wednesday. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hayabusa 2 arrived in the vicinity of Ryugu in June 2018 after a three-and-a-half-year journey from Earth. The spacecraft launched Dec. 3, 2014, aboard an H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.<\/p>\n

During its time at Ryugu, Hayabusa 2 released three mobile landers to hop around the asteroid. Two MINERVA-II landers, developed in Japan, and a larger robot named MASCOT managed by the German and French space agencies beamed back images and scientific data from Ryugu\u2019s surface last year.<\/p>\n

Hayabusa 2 deployed a final MINERVA-II lander last month, but the robot suffered a computer fault and did not return any scientific data, JAXA officials said.<\/p>\n

Hayabusa 2 is Japan\u2019s second robotic asteroid sample return mission.<\/p>\n

The mission\u2019s predecessor, Hayabusa, returned to Earth in June 2010 with microscopic specimens gathered from the surface of asteroid Itokawa, despite multiple technical failures with its propulsion and sample collection systems.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft\u2019s navigation camera captured this image of asteroid Ryugu on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Credit: JAXA Closing out a year-and-a-half of exploration, surveys and sampling operations at asteroid Ryugu, Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft fired thrusters in a departure maneuver Wednesday and headed for Earth with specimens snatched from the asteroid\u2019s dark and rocky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1519,1965,377,877,1561,2168,1563],"class_list":["post-12838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-asteroids","tag-hayabusa-2","tag-japan","tag-jaxa","tag-planetary-science","tag-ryugu","tag-solar-system"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}