- The asteroid probe Hayabusa2, sent by the Japanese space agency JAXA, made two attempts to collect material from the surface of the Ryugu space rock.
- As the samples now returned show, the initial test collected fine particles and sandy material, but the second attempt was much more impressive.
- JAXA describes the second sample as including rocks up to almost half a centimeter and are very hard.
The Japanese mission of the asteroid probe Hayabusa2 lasted a long, long time. The flight to and from the asteroid Ryugu lasted many months, and the time the spacecraft spent in orbit around the asteroid was long in itself. The biggest risk to the spacecraft – and one of the mission’s most important objectives – was bringing asteroid samples back to Earth.
He completed this task just a few weeks ago, and Japan has slowly begun to reveal information about the evidence the probe gathered. The first revelation was somewhat overwhelming, revealing some black, coal-like dust and small pebbles from the first attempt to collect evidence. Now, after JAXA presented its second batch of asteroid materials, we can say with certainty that the mission was an absolutely huge success.
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As Enter the News reports, the latest release of images of asteroid samples gives us a much clearer picture of what Japanese scientists will be working on in the coming months and years. The second sample looks, in particular, quite promising, with larger pieces of stone, which are apparently very hard, according to JAXA.
The differences in the sample material were attributed to the very different circumstances in which they were collected. The first sample was snatched when Hayabusa2 made a short touchdown on the asteroid, so it was mostly dust and smaller pebbles from the surface. For the second sample, the JAXA team actually used Hayabusa2 to launch a projectile at the asteroid, blowing a hole in the surface so that the material could be collected from inside the rock.
The fact that the second sample includes both large and small rocks suggests that the asteroid’s bedrock varies in hardness, according to space scientist JAXA Tomohiro Usui. Asteroid samples are being studied somewhat casually at this time, with observations being observed, but much more in-depth studies of the material and what the rocks may contain will take place over several months and maybe even years.
Meanwhile, the asteroid probe itself does not end its activity. after dropping evidence from Earth, the probe returned to space. He’s heading for another asteroid that JAXA wants to study, but it will take a little longer until it arrives. The trip to the asteroid will take 11 years, so we won’t hear much about it for a while.
Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games over the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, portable devices, smartphones and future technology. Most recently, Mike served as technical editor at The Daily Dot and was featured in USA Today, Time.com, and countless other websites and prints. His love of reporting is second only to gambling addiction.