{"id":13325,"date":"2019-02-22T20:20:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T12:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/japanese-probe-lands-on-asteroid-to-capture-sample\/"},"modified":"2019-02-22T20:20:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T12:20:23","slug":"japanese-probe-lands-on-asteroid-to-capture-sample","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/japanese-probe-lands-on-asteroid-to-capture-sample\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese probe lands on asteroid to capture sample"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Moments after landing on asteroid Ryugu, Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 captured this view of its landing zone from a distance of about 100 feet (30 meters), showing the probe\u2019s shadow and markings left on the surface, likely from the spacecraft\u2019s thruster jets firing to begin its ascent. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft briefly landed on an asteroid Thursday more than 200 million miles from Earth and fired a bullet to scoop up a rocky sample, successfully accomplishing one of the mission\u2019s most challenging maneuvers before returning the asteroid specimen to scientists on the ground in December 2020.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft lingered on Ryugu\u2019s surface for just a few moments before firing thrusters to climb away from the asteroid. Hayabusa 2\u2019s ground team in Sagamihara, Japan, celebrated as radio signals beamed back from the probe indicated the touch-and-go maneuver went off without a hitch, delighting engineers who painstakingly planned \u2014 then re-planned \u2014 the spacecraft\u2019s pinpoint landing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMankind\u2019s hand has reached a new star today,\u201d said Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa 2\u2019s project manager at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, through a translator. \u201cJAXA was successful in the operation (and) touchdown of Hayabusa 2 at Ryugu, and sample collection from Ryugu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Operating on its own, Hayabusa 2 descended toward Ryugu at a glacial pace Thursday, hitting its expected altitude and speed marks before contacting the surface at 2229 GMT (5:29 p.m. EST). Nineteen minutes later, a shift in the signal coming from Hayabusa 2 indicated it reached the surface and started its ascent, prompting applause from pensive scientists in the control room.<\/p>\n

The probe\u2019s navigation system autonomously tracked the location of a target marker deployed onto the asteroid\u2019s surface, allowing Hayabusa 2 to fire its control jets, steering the craft toward a tight landing zone surrounded by hazardous boulders.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa 2\u2019s project manager, shows a plot of the spacecraft\u2019s altitude during its descent toward asteroid Ryugu during a press conference after the touch-and-go maneuver Thursday. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a press conference a few hours later, mission officials from JAXA confirmed the spacecraft performed flawlessly during the touch-and-go landing.<\/p>\n

Telemetry from Hayabusa 2 showed an increase in temperature inside the compartment housing the 0.2-ounce (5 gram) tantalum projectile that shot into the asteroid. The probe uses explosives to fire the bullet, and mission managers said the temperature rise indicated the device functioned as intended.<\/p>\n

The projectile was supposed to fire when a sample horn extending from Hayabusa 2 touched the surface of Ryugu. Rock and powder blasted away by the projectile\u2019s impact was expected to funnel through the sample horn into one of three chambers inside the spacecraft\u2019s return capsule, which will bring the samples back to Earth in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter confirming the data sent out from Hayabusa 2, we were able to confirm that the sequence for touchdown of Hayabusa 2, including the projectile firing to collect samples, was implemented, and Hayabusa 2\u2019s status is normal,\u201d Tsuda said in a press conference at the Sagamihara control center.<\/p>\n

Officials planned to seal the chamber containing the samples from Thursday\u2019s landing, ensuring the material remains uncontaminated during the journey back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Hayabusa 2 is Japan\u2019s second mission to collect samples from an asteroid for return to Earth.<\/p>\n

A predecessor probe named Hayabusa flew to asteroid Itokawa, but only gathered microscopic specimens from the object after running into numerous problems, including a malfunction in its own projectile firing system, a fuel leak, and reaction wheel failures. Hayabusa, which means \u201cperegrine falcon\u201d in Japanese, returned the little asteroid material it collected back to Earth in June 2010.<\/p>\n

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Hayabusa 2\u2019s optical navigation camera captured this view of asteroid Ryugu from a distance of 6 kilometers (4 miles) on July 20, 2018. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ryugu is shaped like a spinning top, with an average diameter of nearly 3,000 feet (900 meters). Its gravity field is thousands of times weaker than Earth\u2019s, allowing Hayabusa 2 to fly around the asteroid with minimal fuel.<\/p>\n

Scientists classify Ryugu as a C-type asteroid, meaning it is rich in carbon, the basic building block of organic molecules. Researchers are eager to get pristine samples of the asteroid to analyze in laboratories, and search for clues about the origin of water and life on Earth.<\/p>\n

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

While Hayabusa 2 explores Ryugu, NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is surveying another asteroid \u2014 named Bennu \u2014 ahead of its own sampling attempt next year. Like Ryugu, Bennu is a carbon-rich asteroid that regularly crosses Earth\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n

OSIRIS-REx will bring home at least 60 grams, or 2.1 ounces of samples from Bennu in 2023, while Hayabusa 2 could return to Earth with at least 100 milligrams of asteroid material. Scientists are hopeful both missions will come back with much more.<\/p>\n

Tsuda said engineers were not immediately sure how much sample Hayabusa 2 collected Thursday. But officials are convinced the projectile worked as expected, and Tsuda said he had the \u201chighest expectation\u201d that Hayabusa 2 snared a \u201cdecent amount of sample.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teams from the Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx missions are collaborating in their asteroid exploration endeavors. JAXA and NASA have agreed to share asteroid samples brought to Earth by Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx, and three U.S. scientists on the OSIRIS-REx team are assigned as co-investigators on the Japanese mission. In return, three Japanese researchers formally joined the OSIRIS-REx team.<\/p>\n

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Hayabusa 2\u2019s ground team poses for a picture after Thursday\u2019s touch-and-go landing on asteroid Ryugu. Credit: JAXA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hayabusa 2 launched on a Japanese H-2A rocket on Dec. 3, 2014, and thrust toward its asteroid target using ion engines, arriving in Ryugu\u2019s vicinity last June.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft dropped a pair of Japanese robots to hop across Ryugu\u2019s surface in September, then released a European mobile scout to land on the asteroid in October. The miniature landers became the first mobile vehicles to explore the surface of an asteroid. All three robots returned imagery and science data.<\/p>\n

Mission managers hoped to grab the first sample with Hayabusa 2 in late October, but officials postponed the descent to complete additional analysis and surveys after the spacecraft found the asteroid is more rocky and rugged than expected. Managers decided to deploy a target marker at their preferred landing site for Hayabusa 2\u2019s first sampling attempt, helping the spacecraft navigate a narrow corridor to safely reach a location free of boulders, which could have endangered the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyugu turned out to be more difficult than we expected, so we decided to deploy all kinds of technologies that are available,\u201d Tsuda said.<\/p>\n

Hayabusa 2 could try to gather two more samples from other locations on Ryugu before departing the asteroid in November or December. The spacecraft must begin its journey back to Earth by the end of the year to return home in December 2020, when Hayabusa 2 will release a sample carrier to re-enter the atmosphere and parachute to a landing in Australia.<\/p>\n

Tsuda aims to complete Hayabusa 2\u2019s critical operations at the asteroid by June or July, when Ryugu makes its closet approach the sun in its 1.3-year orbit.<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s concept of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft at asteroid Ryugu, showing the probe\u2019s sampling horn in contact with the surface. Credit: JAXA\/Akihiro Ikeshita<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On one of the sampling maneuvers, Hayabusa 2 will will fire a copper plate \u2014 400 times more massive than the tantalum bullet used Thursday \u2014 to carve out a crater on the asteroid, allowing the spacecraft to snag material from underneath Ryugu\u2019s surface. The underground sample could be valuable to scientists because material there has not been exposed to the particles and radiation that bombards the asteroid\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to work out what to do about the two touchdowns which are still scheduled,\u201d Tsuda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the present point in time, we cannot formulate a schedule,\u201d Tsuda said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to remain idle for a month. That is not our plan. The state of the (spacecraft) is such that it is in top shape. Maybe every two weeks or three weeks, there are critical operations we wish to conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Takanao Saiki, Hayabusa 2\u2019s project engineer and flight director, said the release of the copper impactor to create a crater on Ryugu will be one of the major highlights of the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as big as the touchdown operation, and it is quite risky,\u201d Saiki said Thursday. \u201cHonestly speaking, (the impactor) is really a challenge, but all of the team members have been using their brains in the touchdown operation up until today \u2026 We would like to celebrate the success today, but from tomorrow we would like to start preparing for (the impactor).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has stepped up our momentum, but we have to remain cautious,\u201d Saiki said.<\/p>\n

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

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

Moments after landing on asteroid Ryugu, Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 captured this view of its landing zone from a distance of about 100 feet (30 meters), showing the probe\u2019s shadow and markings left on the surface, likely from the spacecraft\u2019s thruster jets firing to begin its ascent. Credit: JAXA Japan\u2019s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft briefly landed on […]<\/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-13325","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\/13325"}],"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=13325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}